


Homemade Dynamite

by PorcelainStorm



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Hydra (Marvel), Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, Kree (Marvel), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Psychological Torture, Romantic Friendship, Slight Agents of SHIELD references, Slow Burn, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, xenoarcheology
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-30 04:33:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 36,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11456091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PorcelainStorm/pseuds/PorcelainStorm
Summary: When Tony Stark's childhood friend goes missing during an archeological dig in the jungles of Colombia, he reluctantly takes Steve up on an offer to have James Barnes help track her down.Dr. Isabella Briggs never meant to get caught up in a world of secrets and wars.  She had an agreement with SHIELD, sure, but she never expected that her research would bring the very safety of the planet into question.Bucky wants redemption from his past, and as a last ditch effort joins Steve on his trip to Colombia to appease the man whose family he slaughtered.Tony wants to keep Isabella safe, but he can't protect her from the secrets she hides from him.No one is prepared for the truth; and when reality blows into everyone's faces, they can only hope to pick up the pieces and save the world at the same time.





	1. Chapter 1

* * *

 “She’s been missing for over a week,” Tony's attention didn’t deter from his multiple monitors once.  News reels, maps, video streams and blue prints raced across each screen simultaneously.  “Went into the jungle and didn’t came back out.  There’s at least three active Hydra cells in that area, along with a multitude of uncontacted tribes, gangs…  Steve I don’t even know where to begin.”  

Steve kept his mouth shut while Tony rattled off his continued list of threats throughout Colombia.  The super soldier could list maybe one other occasion he’d seen the genius this flustered, and that involved Pepper being taken by the Mandarin.  He moved in front of Tony’s desk and set his palm onto the surface.  

“We send a team out, get drones in the air and search for her,” he offered and Tony finally broke focus, looking up at Steve hopelessly.  He’d never seen someone look so hollow before.  

“I’ve had drones, suits, everything searching the area she disappeared for days.  I even dropped down there for a bit,” he explained tilting a screen toward Steve.  “Nothing.  Not a trace.  Steve, Isabella doesn’t do this.  She always checks in.”  His voice cracked and he looked back to the computer, his brows knitted in complete focus.  

Steve wanted to offer words, yet all he had to offer were pretty, empty words that would do nothing to quell the genius’ fear.

And then Steve had an idea.  It was an ugly idea, but it was probably the best option Stark had at this point.  

“Maybe we need to bring in someone who knows how to bring people home,” Steve suggested quietly.  A small flicker of irritation flashed across Tony’s features.  “I know Buck’s not your favorite person, but he knows how to find people who’ve disappeared.  He also knows Hydra, like it or not.”

“And he kills the people he finds,” Tony added sharply.  “I’d like her to get back in one piece.  That’s kinda the point, Cap.”

They’d had this argument hundreds of times.  Steve wanted to bring Bucky onto the team, Tony shot it down.  Steve wanted to move Bucky into the compound, Tony sent passive aggressive texts until Steve gave up (though that particular veto was overrode by the rest of the team).

The bad blood wasn’t going away anytime soon.

 _Unless_ , Steve thought hopefully, Bucky could track down this Isabella person.  Tony didn’t go into a lot of details about their relationship, but Steve could see clearly that she was very important to the billionaire.  

The air tensed between the pair, Steve allowing the idea to simmer within Tony.  He shifted to leave the room quietly.  He’d give him a few hours to think it over-

“ _You_ go with him,” Tony finally conceded.  He met Steve’s eyes and frowned.  “I’d go with him myself, but I can’t promise _he’d_ be coming back alive.”  He paused a moment, lowering his head and clutching at the bridge of his nose before he spoke again, more desperate than Steve had ever heard from his friend.  “ _Please_ , get her home to me.  I’m begging you.”  

* * *

“Colombia?” Bucky flicked through the touch screen file and nodded to himself.  “She’s a doctor of cultural anthropology and archeology.  Normal research trip for NYU, a few thugs trying to steal artifacts; nothing new… and then poof?”

“ _Poof_ ,” Steve repeated for emphasis.  “According to Stark she normally checks in with him every three days, whether through her base camp or sat phone.  All of her tech has been tracked and is leading all over the country.  The team she came with has been missing for about the same amount of time as well."

“You know this doesn’t look good Steve,” Bucky frowned up at his friend.  Steve could almost see the sinking feeling in his friend’s stomach.  The soldier knew that the chances of finding the young woman alive were almost slim to none, and he knew that finding her unharmed was almost impossible.

“Tony will want answers either way,” Steve swallowed the lump in his throat and threw a larger than usual medkit onto the jet, _just in case_.

“Is there a list of collected artifacts?” Bucky asked, holding the tablet up.  He followed Steve into the jet and waited patiently while the inner compartment was sealed.  “We could at least narrow down a group or motivation by that.”

“It should be in the file,” Steve’s attention was drawn to the console buzzing to life.  He pressed a few keys, entered in the coordinates and turned to his friend.  “Tony’s convinced it’s either drug lords or Hydra.  I think he might be jumping to conclusions.”

Bucky sucked in a quick breath before lowering the tablet in his hand and staring at Steve. 

“Did you see her last name?” he asked with wide eyes.  “I wouldn’t set aside Stark’s worries so quickly.”  

“What do you mean?” Steve took the device and brought it to the initial mission briefing:  

_Dr. Isabella Briggs.  Daughter of late industrialist Irwin Eugene Briggs, founder of Briggs International._

“ _Briggs_ ,” Steve repeated the name.  “Why does that name sound familiar?”

“Briggs International,” Bucky looked at his friend incredulously.  “Seriously?  They pretty much have their hands in everything that Stark _doesn’t_.  It's mainly weapons, but they've been tinkering on other projects.”

Steve passed the tablet back to Bucky and pulled up the main computer on the jet.  The aircraft had finally reached cruising altitude and was working on an ETA.  

“Then we can’t limit any options,” he typed Isabella’s last known location into the database and pulled up local villages and dig sites the team had worked through the last few months.  “Do you know of any Hydra bases around here?” He enlarged the map around the most recent site and Bucky leaned forward, studying the landscape a moment.  The brunette nodded and pointed to a small mountain on the outskirts of the dig site.  

“A small research complex used to be hidden up there,” he explained, his expression souring.  “Villagers would be brought in and they wouldn’t leave, not alive at least.  It shut down in the 1980s, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they got it running again after DC.”

Steve scrolled through a few SHIELD files on the decommissioned base and swallowed some of the bile that rose in his stomach.  The pictures were gruesome, even for Hydra.

For Isabella’s sake, Steve shook his head and leaned back against the side of the jet, he hoped it was still decommissioned as well.

* * *

Dr. Isabella Briggs wasn’t a coward.  She jumped into the darkest caves, swam in the deepest lakes, and opened the most cursed monuments.  

So when some thugs wearing Hydra armor tried harassing her team to pass over some rare artifacts, she stood right up and decked the biggest man directly in the face.

Granted, that didn’t pan out well for her.  After a struggle, some shouting and a few broken ribs on Isabella’s part, she was thrown into a small, damp cell in the “God-knew-where, Mountain range” in “She-Fucked-Up-Royally, Colombia.”

They asked about her work.  They asked about the artifacts and what she knew of them.  They asked who she worked for.  

She didn’t say a word, despite the cruel and new ways of torturing her they came up with daily.

More broken bones, bruises and four days without food had Isabella laying on the floor of her concrete cell, praying a rat or snake would crawl past.  She was getting desperate for something to eat.  She considered it lucky that she found a small dribble of water in the corner of her cell, but water would only keep her going for so long.  She desperately needed nourishment.  

Her mind strayed a few times, wondering what her team was doing.  Where they still digging?  She hoped so.  The artifacts they’d found would rewrite the history in the region, though if they’d stuck with the contingency in the event of an emergency, she sighed.  It’d all be lost.

Did Tony miss her?  She’d lost track of the last time she’d spoken to him.  Counting back, she closed her eyes.  Had it only been a little over a week?  He had to have realized something was wrong.  It felt like an eternity.  

She allowed a small fantasy of him busting through the door to her cell in one of his Iron Man suits and smiled to herself.  He was always pulling her out of trouble.  Ever since she was a kid and he was a moody teenager.  Their parents always threw the group of them together when they were meeting.  And even though Chris and Tony were closer in age, the Stark boy always ended up playing with Isabella.  Chris would invite his friends over and when Tony left, he’d harass the younger girl.  

Tony would always get back at him though.  Isabella would have to explain a bruise or a cut and by the end of the afternoon, Chris would be yelling and crying over something Tony had done.  

The door to her cell opened, pulling Isabella from her daydreams and back to her darkened reality.  A guard grabbed her roughly by the arm and dragged her to her feet.  

“You look like shit,” he grunted with a smirk, ignoring her stumbling while he strode through the hallway.  She finally looked up and recognized his face, a weak smirk spreading on her features.   

“How’s the nose?” she snickered before being shoved violently into another room.  Nearly tripping over her feet, Isabella composed herself and looked around.  The room was bright, sterile looking, and much colder than the cell she was in, if that was even possible.  She didn’t get a chance to study more before the guard grabbed her by the waist and threw her on a metal table, quickly strapping down her arms and legs.  

She struggled, shouting for him to stop, only silencing when a man in a white coat slapped a hand across her face.

“Who did you call?” he asked her stoically, almost as if he didn’t care what her answer was.  He was a new person in the list of abusers.

“I’ve been in your lovely accommodations all week.  When on earth would I have called someone?” she started before he threw a leather strap over her mouth as a makeshift gag and jabbed a large needle into her arm.  She let out a shriek of pain and began to struggle again.  

“There have been private and government planes circling the area the last two days,” he continued slowly.  “Your team sent no communications out.  Who did you contact?”

She tried to shout through the gag but he ignored her, knowing she wouldn’t provide him an adequate answer.  He nodded to the guard, who began sticking wiring along her arms and legs.  He lifted her shirt and grinned when he lined her torso with the small objects.  If she had any food left in her system, she probably would have thrown up at the look he gave her.  

There was a click at the back of the room.

The next instant was just blind pain.  Burning, agonizing pain that felt like they were ripping her nervous system apart while simultaneously pumping lava through her veins.  

There was another click, somewhere through the haze and the pain stopped.

When she was able to orient back to her senses, she realized she’d been screaming for some time from the pain in the back of her throat.  The man removed the leather strap and looked at her expectantly.

“You had to have transmitted a communication signal at some point,” he repeated.  “I need to know who you called for help.  Miss Briggs, I’m not a patient man.”

Isabella began rasping, her throat not quite able to speak.  He leaned forward to hear her whisper.

“It’s _Dr._ Briggs,” she whispered, earning another hit and the gag thrown back in.  

* * *

“Status report?” Tony called in while the pair was making their hike toward the Colombian base.  Steve knocked a few insects out of the air and held his finger to the comm in his ear.

“We caught some energy readings from a supposedly retired Hydra base,” Steve reported back, grimacing at another onslaught of bugs.  Bucky continued watching the base through binoculars silently.  “That’s our first stop, though we’d have to be very lucky if it’s our only stop.”

“I still haven’t heard anything about a ransom yet,” Tony informed them and sighed.  Steve could vaguely hear the hum of computers in the background.  He was willing to bet that Stark hadn’t slept a single wink this entire week.  “Granted I don’t think Chris would bother telling me.  Or answer the phone in the first place…"

“We’ll get her,” Steve promised earnestly before cutting the line short and kneeling next to Bucky.  He scanned the mountain side before Bucky wordlessly passed the binoculars over.  

“There are a few trucks on the east side of the mountain,” he stated.  “And an armed security force near the eastern entrance.”

“Heavily guarded for a decommissioned base,” Steve noted then paused.  “There’s movement near the top as well.”  

“I saw that,” Bucky frowned.  “With the shape the dig site was in, I’m willing to bet Hydra is involved in some way.  A twelve person team doesn’t just disappear without a trace.  I’m willing to bet Dr. Briggs found something more important than a few pottery shells.”

Steve didn’t say a word, but knew his friend was right.  If they were willing to go to such lengths to silence a multi-million dollar project and kidnap someone like Isabella Briggs, there was more to this than met the eye.  

Bucky moved first, jumping from shadow to shadow with Steve trailing behind watching his back.  It didn’t take long for the super soldiers to make their way to the base, despite avoiding the main road.  When they essentially leapt over the mountain side, the guards didn’t even know what to do.  Between Steve and Bucky, they were unconscious in seconds.

Not even enough time to raise an alarm.  It was almost too perfect.   _Too_ easy.

Or so they thought.  The duo moved a few feet toward the base and a swarm of agents charged toward them.  Some opened fire, others attempted to fist fight.  

* * *

There was finally a break in the abuse when another guard walked into the room and began to murmur to the white coated man.  He clicked off the machine and placed a small hand on Isabella’s abdomen, pressing down almost painfully.  

“Looks like your friends have come to save you,” he coolly commented, his fingers tracing circles around her stomach.  Isabella wanted to ask questions, but her body was paralyzed from exhaustion and pain.  She lolled her head to the side and stared at him with an empty gaze.

He lifted the edge of her shirt and smiled down at her smooth skin, his finger playing over it slowly.  “It’s a pity we didn’t get to play more.  I’ll miss the time we spent together.”  

Isabella couldn’t see what he was doing, but knew the moment it happened.  

He dug a small knife into her side and slipped out of the room, barking orders at the various guards to stay put and delay the threat.  Isabella tried to shout in pain, but ended up choking on a sob that erupted from the back of her throat.  Her nerves were so fried and her mind so dizzied that she wasn’t even sure what reaction she was supposed to have.  

With every heaving of her body, she could see more blood pooling around her, and despite every instinct to try and pull the knife out of her, she was still bound tightly to the table.  

She tried to get her head straight, but the room was spinning and she knew she was losing blood too quickly.  In the back of her mind she could make out the sounds of shooting and a struggle in the hallways, but she was too consumed with her present circumstance to think anything of it.  

When the door opened again, she froze her movements, straining to hear the mysterious person’s next actions.  This was it.  Life or death.  The end or the beginning. 

She didn’t expect the next set of eyes to meet hers to be a bright blue.  She certainly didn’t expect the gentle removal of her restraints or a masked man to appear at her other side, stating things she couldn’t understand.  She felt the blade being removed and let out a low whimper of pain, too weak to offer anything else.

Guards crashed into the room and the masked man charged forward with a shield.  Her blue-eyed savior lifted her to his chest, pressing a wad of cloth into the oozing wound.  They ducked behind an overturned table while the man with the shield handled their assailants.  

Everything was so cold, and he was so warm.  Isabella rested her head closer to his chest, her eyes closing slowly despite the chaos around her.  He shook her a few times, and her eyes flickered open for seconds before she sank back into the warm darkness that awaited her.  Why wouldn’t he let her rest for a bit?  Didn’t he know how much it hurt?

* * *

Barnes was the first out of the jet, his arms cradling the broken Isabella Briggs, practically sprinted toward the compound.  Tony noticed the blood first, his feet freezing in place while he watched the infamous Winter Soldier rush the woman to the infirmary.  Rogers was out of the jet second, running a hand through his blonde hair and frowning at Stark.  

“We kept her stable the entire flight,” he informed the billionaire.  “She lost a lot of blood.  She was in bad shape when we found her, stabbed and hooked to all kinds of machinery.  It wasn’t pretty.”

They’d given Tony a heads up of the situation so that he was able to adequately prep the facilities for Isabella’s arrival, but he hadn’t realized the extent of the abuse his friend had suffered until he saw her tiny form pressed against Barnes’ chest.

Isabella was like the sun, always bright and shining.  She smiled through anything life threw at her and considered it a new opportunity when something went wrong.  But the human they’d brought back, there was no life there.  That wasn’t Isabella.  She was too small, too pale, her light too _dim_.

“You should be there,” Steve stated, pulling Tony back to the moment.  Stark gave a curt nod and robotically made his way to the medical wing.  His mind raced the entire walk, thinking of what he could say to her.  

He should have been there.  He should have found her sooner.  His tech was supposed to be infallible, it was the only reason he ever let her out of his sight to jump around the globe.  He failed her.  

He stopped outside of a large window that surrounded the operating theater in the med wing.  A handful of doctors were already at work, including Dr. Stephen Strange, who’d driven upstate as a favor to Tony.  

Tony stared at her face for what felt like an eternity before he felt a presence at his side.    

“They caught wind of us coming,” Barnes spoke quietly, his attention fixed forward at the doctors.  “It looked like an interrogation when we showed up.  They kept trying to keep us out of a certain wing and I’m willing to bet it was because they wanted her dead before we found her.”

The words were so forward and sharp, Tony felt his chest give a sharp intake of breath.  

“She lost a lot of blood, but she seems pretty damned determined to stay alive,” Tony could sense the awkwardness in the man’s tone before he felt a hand clasp his shoulder.

“Thank you,” Tony finally murmured before he turned on his heel and headed toward the recovery room to make sure everything was ready for Isabella’s arrival.  She was going to survive.  She’d survived kidnappings before, it wasn’t anything new for people of their status.  She’d survived natural disasters during research studies, jumped into darkened pits…

He wasn’t sure how long he sat kneeling in front of Isabella’s bed, but Steve had to coax him out of the room after some time.  Everything was automatic for him until he knew definitively that she was out of harm’s way.  

When Strange found him staring at a wall in his study, a single word wasn’t exchanged.  Tony simply stood up and ran to her room.

She was still unconscious when he arrived and Strange explained over his shoulder that she needed time to let her body heal.  He started a laundry list of injuries before summarizing that it was a miracle she’d survived.  Tony just stood next to the bed, clutching her pale hand and shaking.  

“I’m sorry Izzy,” he muttered lowering himself next to the bed and moving a small piece of dark brown hair off of her forehead.  “I’m so sorry Izzy…”

* * *

The first thing Isabella heard was the clicking of pliers on metal and a low voice humming to an AC/DC song.  She sat, listening to the familiar noise a moment before she tried to open her eyes.  

The room was bright- painfully bright, but she still willed her eyes open.  She was on her back on a bed.  It was the softest bed she’d had in some time, so she determined she was either dead or back to safety.  

She tried moving her arm, but a neuron fired in the back of her head and she felt a wave of pain hit her.  Instead, she let out a pathetic groan and closed her eyes again.  

The clicking stopped.

“Izzy?"

She knew that voice.  She definitely knew that voice.  If she wasn’t back to safety, she had to be dead.  

“Long time no see,” she attempted as casually as she could.  Instead of sounding composed, however, it came out scratchy and weak.  

She felt a pressure on the side of the bed and when she opened her eyes, a worn looking Tony Stark stared back at her.

“Am I dead?” she asked trying to reach toward him, he laugh and shook his head, grabbing her hand himself.  

“You’re not dead,” he confirmed softly.  “I mean, I might kill you after I hear your story, but you’re very much alive right now.”

“Oh good,” she let out a slow breath, sinking into the pillows behind her.  She closed her eyes a moment before she hummed out a soft thought.  “Why are you so dramatic?”

Tony blinked in confusion, half amused by her ramblings.  He gave her hand a soft squeeze.  

“What do you mean?”

“You called the _Avengers_ ,” she explained, as if it explained everything.  “Coulda just called the police…”  She trailed off, her eyelids fluttering shut.  Tony sat next to her, his hand in hers until she let out a soft snore.  He would have called in every favor with every powerful person he knew if it meant getting her back to safety.  

“Love ya, Izzy…” he muttered under his breath.  

“She’s something special, huh?” Steve peered into the room through the doorway, a bouquet of sunflowers clutched in his hands.  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the great Tony Stark so _panicked_ before.”

Tony snorted and stood up, adjusting her blankets, before he crossed the room to his makeshift work station.  

“I’ve taken care of her since she was little,” he explained tidying the area and nodding at a chair near the bed for Steve to sit in.  Steve set the flowers next to Isabella’s bed and sat down, listening with interest to Tony’s story.  “Her parents were always MIA and her brother, Chris, was the biggest shithead I’ve ever had the misfortune of knowing.  Figured someone needed to look out for her.”

“So she’s really part of the Briggs family?” Steve glanced over at Isabella and let out a low whistle.  

Tony perked a brow, someone had done their homework.

“She is,” he pulled up a chair closer to his friend and reached for her hand again.  “But Chris cut her out of the family business the second their dad died and he had control.  She had a trust set up, but because she was in the middle of college at the time, it all went to her education.  I took her in when Chris renegotiated their father’s will and cut her out.”

“Why would he do that?” Steve leaned forward in anticipation.  

“Everything was supposed to go to her,” Tony explained softly.  “But she knew Chris wanted the company, she was more interested in academic pursuits.  He was bitter and slowly wormed her out of everything.  She knew exactly what was happening, but she wanted to stay on his good side to maintain a semblance of a relationship.  It wasn’t until she was on my doorstep in the pouring rain with a suitcase did she really realize what kind of person he was.”

Steve remained silent, digesting the information before looking up at Tony with a smile.  

“You’re a good man Tony.”

“I’d be better if I didn’t let her get caught up in all of this,” he grumbled in frustration.  Isabella was supposed to be his reprieve, his escape from the world of heroics.  She was his only link to normalcy.  

He loved listening to her stories about a poorly placed lizard or what she had for lunch that day, but he knew that once those eyes opened again, he’d see the same emptiness he saw in the mirror daily.  

“This isn’t your fault,” Steve assured him firmly.  “It could have happened to anyone.  They didn’t even know who she was initially.”

“We’re lucky they didn’t know how close she was to _me_ ,” Tony interjected.  “Imagine what Hydra would have done to Tony Stark’s little friend.  I love her more than anything.  They would have killed her and sent me the pieces one by one…”

He was spiralling.  He could feel the panic rising in his stomach at the thought of never seeing her again.  Steve pressed his palms into Tony’s shoulders, anchoring him to reality.  

“Deep breaths,” the soldier ordered and Tony slowly gasped for air, his body shaking from the excess adrenaline of the panic attack.  “Just hold on… everything's ok.”

Tony sank back into the chair and closed his eyes, leaning his head back toward the ceiling.  He wasn’t going to let Hydra anywhere near her again.  He’d hold onto his promise this time.  

“Thank you,” he finally breathed.  “For everything.  For suggesting Barnes, for getting her out of there.  I owe you my life.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Steve stared him down sternly.  “It’s what friends are for.”

* * *

 


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

 “So you-,” Steve began slowly, Tony smirked at the soldier trying to process the information Isabella was giving him.  

“Hydra showed up, I planted my boot up the nearest guy’s ass and I decked the leader.” She repeated in slight annoyance.  “They were harassing my team about the research site and _threatening_ to hurt one of the interns.  I _intervened_.”  

They'd been going over the details for a little over an hour and Tony could tell Isabella was growing tired of the redundant questions.  

Tony could see Steve trying to suppress a grin in an attempt to remain professional, but he couldn't hold it.  Isabella was something else when she was worked up, and after learning the details of what had happened, she insisted on the official debriefing so she could get back to work.  Unfortunately that meant a lot of paperwork.  

And repetition.  

“Walk me through what happened after that,” Steve looked up at the doctor and she frowned.  

“I'm assuming they killed my closest friends and started torturing me,” her tone was sharp and Tony could see the exhaustion creeping in at the edges of her features. 

He jumped in before Steve could ask another question.

“Maybe we should get some lunch?  Take a little break?”  Steve began to protest but Tony was already ordering take-out via FRIDAY.  Eventually the super soldier was overridden and parted the room.  

“You all right?” Tony sat on the edge of Isabella's bed.  She looked distracted, her attention focused in an entirely different world.  After a few moments of tense silence, she shifted her focus on him.  

“I'm fine Tony,” she assured him with a tight smile.  “Takes more than a few bruises to knock me down.  Tell Steve I'll write up the rest of the report myself.  I think I need a little rest.”

Tony took that as his cue to leave.  He stood up and paused briefly to run a hand over her dark hair, closing the door behind him.  

Once alone, Isabella dropped backwards into the hospital bed.  She'd thought about her time with Hydra over and over.  She knew what they wanted and how desperate they were to get it.

But that was never going to happen.   If Hydra realized the extent of the artifacts they'd stolen, they'd win.  It was that simple.  And Isabella Briggs wasn’t in the business of losing.

Yet now, Isabella felt helpless.  She wasn't a spy or a soldier.  She had no power that would be able to pull the objects back to her.  Isabella was _just_ a scientist.  An important one, but unnecessary in the process of returning the relics.

She had already fielded calls from Coulson and a few others involved with the Kree research project.  They wanted her to stay put and lay low with Tony until they tracked down all of the relics.  

The irritating part was that they refused to tell her which ones they'd located and which ones were in Hydra’s hands.  

An alien bone and an alien war machine were handled in entirely different ways.  When they captured her, Hydra potentially had both, and didn't know which was which.  

Compartmentalization, Coulson had assured her.  That was always the answer with the suits.  She was told that she'd be notified if anything needed further explanation.  It was bullshit.  She couldn’t just sit back and wait until they decided she was useful again.  

What she _needed_ to do was get back to Colombia.  She needed to recheck the site.  If pieces were missing from SHIELD, her team might have been able to hide the important artifacts and encrypted field notes. The team had come up with a contingency plan as a last case scenario. Even the SHIELD agents on her team had promised to help. Some things were just so important, they needed to stay in the ground. SHIELD wouldn't know if they had everything, because the team had intentionally kept things from the agency.

“Oh, _sorry_ ,” a voice pulled Isabella out of her mental distress.  She rolled her head to the side and saw a pair of familiar blue eyes staring back at her.  “I was looking for Dr. Banner, must’ve gotten the rooms mixed up.”

“No you're fine,” she gave a small smile, lifting her body slightly and frowning at the pain that shot up her ribcage. “I never did get to thank you properly for saving my life.”  

“I was just the delivery boy,” he shrugged off the compliment, looking like a frightened animal caught in the doorway.  He cleared his throat and shifted his weight on his feet.  “It looks like you're doing better.”

“As well as one can expect when a knife is stuck in their side,” she chuckled, wincing when her ribs ached in protest.  Her hand shot to the bandaged side instinctively.  She could feel a little blood seeping out.   “See?  Just absolutely ruins happiness.”

“That could be the broken ribs too,” he pointed out, leaning against the doorframe, loosening his body language slightly.  “From what I hear you put up quite the fight.”  

She snorted a laugh.

“I tried not to die,” she admitted quietly.  “Everyone's acting like it's this  _unbelievable_ thing.  I hear you all do it daily.”

“You're too insightful for your own good,” the man let a low chuckle, folding his arms across his chest.  

“I study people and rocks for a living, I would hope I'd be good at reading at least _one_ of them,” Isabella dropped her head back on the pillow, relishing the comfort laying flat offered her.  “Now if you'll excuse me, I have some important brooding to get back to.”  

Isabella could sense the man lingering a moment more before he spoke up again.

“I'm Bucky, by the way,” he offered.

Maybe the pain meds.  Or the bleeding wound.  Or perhaps Isabella was just stir crazy from staring at the same damn wall for the last week or so.  She started laughing.

“Is that your real name?” the brunette smirked, rolling her head back to look him over inquisitively.  Bucky looked about as confused as could be expected, given the circumstances.  And the circumstances consisted of a nearly hysterical scientist laughing at him.  

“What makes you think it isn't?” He questioned, his voice lifting in offense.  If she knew him better, Isabella could have sworn there was a hint of amusement in his tone.

“You look like you can snap a man in half and _Bucky_ sounds like a cartoon squirrel,” she pointed out lightly, earning a grunt from him.

“Stark’s really rubbed off on you, huh?” he commented turning to leave, but Isabella Briggs wasn't one to let someone else have the last word, no matter how recently they saved her life.

“Maybe I rubbed off on him first.”

* * *

“Don’t you remember my graduation?” Isabella plucked a card off of the table and grinned at Tony.  “When I got my doctorate?”

The billionaire paused in thought before shaking his head.  

“I don’t- that might be the problem,” he chuckled, laying down his hand and looking to Isabella.  The woman snorted and revealed a full house.  “Ugh, I’m beginning to think you’re cheating.”

“You just have a terrible poker face,” she replied, pulling the pile of poker chips toward her.  “Never play chicken with the earth if it means keeping a straight face.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he replied before reshuffling the cards.   “Now back to your graduation?”

“You busted out the suit, because my drunk self wanted to see it in person,” she was laughing more freely.  “Pretty sure Pepper had a heart attack.”

“That was right before you left for South America,” he noted casually, drawing a few cards.  The memory hit him like a bullet in the chest.  She'd accepted a position with New York University and within days she'd been shipped out.  It'd been like a void was punched through his heart the moment she stepped on the plane.  

“Right before Sokovia,” she murmured.  “I shouldn’t have left.”

“You did what you had to,” he commented, picking up the deck of cards and anxiously reshuffling.  “We all got through.”

“Barely,” she reached forward and placed her hands over his, squeezing slightly.  “But neither of us died.  So that’s a positive, right?”

“I feel like you’re trying much harder than I am,” he replied dryly.  “Punching a terrorist is a pretty sure way to get killed.”

“So is building a psycho robot,” she reminded him curtly.  “Neither of us has the best self control.”

As usual, Isabella Briggs brought common sense into the argument.  

“God,” he sighed and lowered his head, setting the cards down on the small table.  “Didn't we blow up a Porsche at one point?”

“What else do aimless rich kids do?”  

“I recall a Brett,” Tony smirked, earning a smack in the shoulder by Isabella.  

“And I recall a Mary, two Susan's, a Naomi…” she continued to list off names until he threw a pillow at the archeologist.  She tossed it back and they began laughing.  For a brief moment, it was like the years had never passed between them.  

For a brief moment, Tony forgot Isabella had been clinging to life days before.  He forgot about Hydra and Iron Man.   _Hell_ , he forgot about the _Avengers_.  It was just Tony and Izzy.  The dynamic duo.

And then it ended.  Fear wrapped around him.  His chest grew tight as he focused on the bruises along Izzy’s face and pictured the abuse she’d been subjected to.  Anxiety swept through and before he knew it, the dark haired woman across from him had pulled Tony into a tight embrace.

“I won't let this happen again,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around her torso.  He could feel Isabella shake her head and tighten her grip.  

“You can't control the world,” she whispered into his hair.  “I'm here now.  You're safe.  We're both safe.”

It was what she'd told him his first night after he'd returned to the States from his kidnapping in the Middle East.  He’d wandered his mansion alone for hours before settling down in his lab.  Isabella found him shortly thereafter with some food and a smile.  

They both had broken down, and the then college student had held him until he steadied his breathing and agreed to get some sleep.  

He couldn't remember who'd told him that history repeated itself...

“I should be comforting you,” he tried to joke, pulling away and fixing his hair.

Isabella tried to shrug the comment off but Tony's gaze lingered until she spoke.  

“It's fine,” she insisted.  “ _I'm_ fine.”

“I read the report,” he stated calmly.  She paled at the admission and frowned, picking at the edge of her IV line.  

“They wanted information I didn't have,” she replied, her voice shrinking from the confident woman she'd been moments ago.  “I stayed stubborn and waited for my knight in red and gold armor.”  Her laugh was humorless and her expression exposed a pain that Tony hadn't seen in years.

“You would have died,” his voice cracked at the realization.  It was one thing to read the conclusion, penned by Steve’s hand in the official report.  Saying it out loud; admitting it.  That hit him harder than he'd expected.  

Surprisingly, Isabella was unfazed.  

“ _Probably_ ,” she agreed coolly.  “I had been starved and tortured.  I had nothing of use.  No bargaining tools… I would have been dead in a day, maybe two if I was lucky.”

The way she admitted it so casually shook Tony to the core.  It was as if she'd accepted death during her time there.  And perhaps she had.  Perhaps Isabella had lost hope in his old promise to always protect her.  

“I'm feeling a little TV,” she announced, sensing the tension that now surrounded him.  He forced a smile and she turned on the flat screen television nearby.  They chatted about a Spanish soap opera she'd been watching and he listened while she translated the current scene as it played out.  

He caught the occasional smile from her out of the corner of his eye.  She'd laugh at something before translating or would simply try to wordlessly reassure him that she was fine.  

And maybe she was.  Or maybe she was swallowing it down for his sake.  

Maybe in her eyes _he_ was the one who needed protected.

Regardless, Tony Stark knew he would never let that smile fade again.  He'd be there.   He loved her too much to let her be caught up in his dysfunctional world.  

* * *

It ran in repeat.  Screams.  Blood.  Pain.

The man would inject her with something burning and she'd remain silent through the tears that involuntarily sprang free.  

He'd electrocute her senseless and she mumbled insults through her delusions.  

Pain.  So much pain.  

Never ending pain.  That's what he promised.  He promised to kill her family, kill her friends.

But Tony was safe.  Home was safe.  The man couldn't hurt what he didn't know.  

Until Tony sent his friends.  The man would hurt him.  He'd get what he wanted.  He promised her he would.

Isabella choked herself awake mid scream.  

Just a nightmare.  

She caught her breath, ignoring the sweat that drenched her bedclothes in an uncomfortable dampness.  

The door slid open slightly and a shadowy figure peered in.  

“You all right?”  Did she recognize that voice?

“Bucky?” She tried hesitantly.  

He stepped more fully into the room, the lights from the city catching his features.  

“Yeah,” he replied quietly.  “I'm on patrol tonight."

Isabella hummed in acknowledgement.

“Didn't realize squirrels were nocturnal,” she mumbled, her mind still in a haze from the nightmare.

“This one is,” he lingered.  Why did he always linger?  “Did you wanna talk about it?”  

“Talk about what?” she suddenly frowned, realizing what he meant.  “ _No, oh god no._  No point ruining your night.”

He looked visibly relieved at the scientist’s statement.  Isabella picked at her IV lines nervously, unsure what to even say.  Why hadn’t he left?  She just wanted to pump herself full of morphine and fall back into a dreamless sleep.

“So, what time is it?” she asked, stealing a small glance in his direction.  

“Quarter past two,” he reported, remaining still in place.  Isabella nodded to herself and readjusted her covers, grimacing when the now damp sheets stuck to her limbs and added a little weight to her tugging, aching her side wounds.  

She let out an involuntary curse of pain and huffed a frustrated breath.  Isabella was so tired of being weak; both physically and mentally.  

Bucky stepped forward and lifted the covers to help her back into bed.  She saw his expression sour the moment his flesh hand touched the damp sheets.  When she was settled back in, he shook his head and wordlessly turned to rummage through a nearby cabinet.  In the darkness, Isabella couldn’t see what he was doing until he returned, an arm full of clean linen.  

“May I?” he questioned, and Isabella nodded slowly, slowly sitting up in the bed, unsure what he wanted her to do.  She wasn’t much use trying to stand on her own.  Bucky set the blankets aside and grabbed her arm, helping her to a nearby chair.  When he was confident she couldn’t hurt herself, he went to work stripping the hospital bed down and remaking the linens with the clean bedding.  

When he finished, he walked her back to the bed and helped her adjust her IV so it wouldn’t become tangled.

“Thanks,” she sighed lightly, her head feeling heavy from all of the movement.  She felt warm, so she lazily tossed the side of her bed to the side, allowing her sides access to the room’s cool air.

“It’s not easy sleeping on a damp bed,” he merely commented.  “I hope it helps a little.”

“Do you say that from personal experience?” she asked, her eyes closing and her arm lifting above her head.  She felt dizzy and hot.  

 _God_ , she felt hot.

Bucky didn’t seem to be listening to her.  He moved from a few feet away from her bed to inches away in a split second.

“Is your super power super speed?” she mumbled.  She could barely understand was she saying.  Bucky seemed to be instructing her to do something.  He eventually grabbed her hand and pressed it into her side before disappearing briefly.

When he returned, he gently lifted Isabella’s hand and dug open her bandaging.

“Tony was… very proud of that…” she protested through slurs in her speech.  Suddenly it felt like someone had covered her in ice.

_So cold._

She rolled her head toward Bucky and tried to ask for a blanket, but she saw his blood covered hands and froze.

Isabella watched the blood pouring out of her side, the crimson liquid pulling her back into her mind.  All she saw was red.  Red.  And screaming.  And _pain_.  The blood seemed never ending.  Her head spun and she sank back into that nightmare.  Her dig team being buried alive… Tony being ripped apart, piece by piece.  Now Bucky seemed to have joined her terrors; yelling in agony over and over...

“ _Izzy…_ ” a voice sang into her mind.  It was almost mocking… it was cruel.  

Her world came back when someone placed a damp cloth on her forehead.  When her eyes blinked open, Tony was leaning over her worriedly.  It took a moment for her to orient to her surroundings.  Night had shifted into day.

“Welcome back to the world of the living, Izzy,” he smirked, but Isabella could see the bags under his eyes.  “Don’t worry, it’s only been a few hours.  Your side wound wasn’t clotting properly, but thankfully Barnes caught it in time.”

It was explained to Isabella that she was lucky Barnes went to check her bandages before leaving.  She’d been given something that diluted her clotting factor during her captivity.  She would have bled out through the night if the former assassin hadn’t acted as quickly as he had

She spent the next few days sleeping.  Dr. Strange had come up with a potent cocktail of drugs that worked to reverse the damage done to her.  It was effective, but had almost instantly zapped the energy out of her. 

In her bouts of consciousness, however, Isabella planned how long she'd be on the mend.  She priced plane tickets and gathered as much information as she could.  The wound was a setback to her plans, but she figured the delay wouldn’t do any more damage than had already been inflicted.

Isabella didn’t see Bucky in the days after he’d helped her.  She reasoned he was giving her space to heal.  Not to mention, Tony didn’t leave her side once while she slept off the cocktail’s effects.

A few days after the situation with Dr. Briggs in the hospital room, Bucky returned to his quarters after a long sparring session with Steve.  

He almost missed the subtle gift, and it wasn't until he nearly knocked it off his bed that he noticed it.  

Sitting neatly on top of his pillow was a stuffed squirrel with a handwritten note attached to it that simply said:

  
_Thank you_.

* * *

 


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

“I'd be careful of over exerting,” Dr. Stephen Strange held up Isabella's chart and paused in concentration.  Tony had called him back to the compound upstate to make the final call on whether or not Isabella Briggs was healthy enough for a discharge out of the medical facility.  “Your ribs are almost completely healed, your stab wound is healing nicely since we introduced the antidote... I feel comfortable giving you a discharge into Tony's care.”

“Any estimate in when I might be able to return to work?” She sent him a look of desperation.  He could understand the scientists desire to get back to work, hell the personal sacrifices he’d made for similar reasons…

“I'd say another month of rest and you could reasonable return to the field,” he peered over his clipboard and allowed a small smirk.  “ _Assuming_ the interns handle the heavy lifting.”

He could see her running through the mental math, her hand unconsciously going to feel her ribs.  Dr. Strange didn’t miss the idiosyncrasies that reminded him of Stark.  It was amazing how the public missed it.  The two seemed almost like identical twins in their reactions, their interactions and their ability to change the subject with a simple smile.  

“Excuse me,” one of Stark’s many administrative workers peered into the room.  The short woman was holding a thick envelope with Dr. Briggs’ name on the front.  “This came for you from the city this morning.”

The dark hair woman perked up and reached for the bundle, ripping it open without another word.  The other woman excused herself and Briggs began digging through a stack of paperwork.  

“Never a day off, hm?” Strange commented, turning to enter a few notes in a nearby computer.

She mumbled something in response under her breath, her attention completely pulled in by the paperwork in front of her.  He glanced up, watching her emerald gaze flicker across each page, shuffling through and digesting the information as quickly as possible.  

But that wasn’t what gave the doctor, turned sorcerer, a chill.

He saw it briefly.  A small symbol that could have been mistaken for a crude ancient drawing by a layman.  But Dr. Stephen Strange knew better.  He recognized it immediately, its origins shrouded in centuries of inter-galactic conflict and war.  

Suddenly the sorcerer supreme was very interested in the archaeologist's research.

He swallowed and returned his attention to the woman.

“Certainly feel free to reach out if you need any further assistance,” he raised his head in Isabella's direction. “And do keep in touch.  I have a few items I'd like you to review in the near future.”  

The brunette hummed in agreement, remaining in place until she finished reviewing the final piece of paper.  

“Thank you,” she finally met his eye line and winked at him.  "Maybe I'll give you a discount for a consult."

She stood up carefully, grabbing her pile of notes and disappearing down the hallway, muttering phrases that sounded distinctly like ancient Kree under her breath.

Whatever the woman was working on, Strange had a feeling that Stark wasn’t involved.  The billionaire would have a fit if he knew the dangerous work the scientist had seemingly immersed herself in.  Of course, these were all educated guesses.  

He just hoped the Dr. Briggs knew exactly the world she’d allowed herself into.  

* * *

The paperwork was a step in the right direction.  Coulson had called her the night before and explained that SHIELD had come across some remaining field notes from her recently deceased team and couldn't understand what the strange writing meant.  

Immediately Isabella offered to review what SHIELD had and provide input on what it meant to the project.  

She could have cried. All of the notes were still fully encrypted. At least some of the information was still safe. Most parts would require others in order to properly translate everything... Even if Hydra had their hands on pieces from the project, they would need the notes and other artifacts to track down the more dangerous weapons.

 _Thank god_ , she thought to herself, studying the information a second time.  She found a small sofa and curled up, running a finger over each handwritten note. It was all there. Every detail of every artifact they’d located during the dig in Colombia. It was the only record containing the full truth of their work and Isabella was the only one who knew how to read it. She still had time.

According to what they’d found, the site had been an early Kree settlement.  Their task for SHIELD was to piece together the history of the Inhumans with the initial Kree intervention on Earth.  Essentially, they were to find exactly what aspects of ancient history could be credited to alien intervention.

Isabella had been hand picked by the Coulson for the task, due to her various papers on hypothetical cultural differences on an intergalactic scale, and her clear affinity for language.  The world had changed and when Isabella was in school, she realized the perspectives had to change with it.  

She just didn’t realize that such forward thinking would land her the educational opportunity of a lifetime.  Isabella had been able to hand-pick her team and she choose her most trusted and talented colleagues.  They’d been working in Columbia for a little over six months- having followed vague instructions found in a temple in Brazil.  

They’d gotten lucky, Isabella’s second in command had located the initial site using a few geographic landmarks that would have existed within the timeframe of the Brazilian temple.  They began to dig and within a week, had accumulated enough artifacts to make the most seasoned historian have a heart attack.  

From what they’d found, the Kree had remained on Earth a little longer than initially hypothesized.  Isabella had been provided a rough timeline of the Kree conflict that brought them to the planet per the Asgardians, but it was clear that there were a few discrepancies in the work.

The Kree hadn’t just made the Inhumans; they’d prepared Earth for an all out galactic brawl.  They’d stashed weapons of destruction that made nuclear warfare look like a hilarious joke throughout the planet.  The battle-crazed species clearly had no intention of going down without a fight, even if it meant dousing the primitive planet they’d acquired in flames.

Of course the moment Isabella and her team had figured this out, they made a few phone calls.  SHIELD was informed and more money began to flow their way.  

But then the seemingly harmless relics began to pile up.  And that pile grew and grew until one day Isabella and one of her interns were picking through the inventory and the intern pointed out a pattern.  It was subtle, but within a few nights Isabella had combined a few of the relics into a solid stone tablet.  

It’d been instructions for the weapons their research had revealed. And the instructions made it very clear where to locate the components.  

“Out of house arrest?”

Isabella’s head shot up and she looked over her shoulder.  Bucky was standing a few feet away, a towel wrapped around his neck and covered in sweat.  

“Yes, the good warden deemed me beneficial to society again,” she replied, quickly stacking her papers and slipping them back into the envelope.  “And you look like you just ruined someone’s day.  Please tell me it was Tony.”

He stifled a laugh and shook his head.

“Unfortunately, no.  And it was Steve who ruined _my_ day,” he reached behind his back and stretched his mechanical arm, frowning slightly.  “Apparently, as technologically advanced as this is, it does _not_ do a full 360 degree rotation.”

Isabella winced at the mental image.

“Yikes,” she murmured tucking the large envelope under her arm and standing up.  “Though that sounds like a fight I need an invitation to in the future.”

He perked up at this, his brow arching slightly.  

“You’re sticking around then?” he questioned, watching her move a closer to him.  She shrugged, stopping in front of him and sighed.

“For the time being,” she confessed.  “I can’t exactly jet off to parts unknown with a few healing ribs and the inability to lift my arms above my head.”

“I’m sure the rocks will be waiting for you,” he tried to assure her, but Isabella froze at the well meaning comment.  She could feel her expression souring, her mind rapidly listing through the potential artifacts Hydra had in their hands.

“ _Sure_ ,” she swallowed.  She could feel her cheeks beginning to lose color, her heartbeat rapidly picking up pace.  World destruction kept replaying in her head.

“Everything ok?” Bucky looked genuinely concerned and held his hands up in case the scientist fell over.  She blinked, pulling herself together and nodded quickly.

“Perfect,” she stated firmly.  “I’m _perfect_.  If you’ll excuse me, I have to talk with Tony.”

She darted past him, ignoring the feeling of his gaze following her out of the room.  If they’d hidden the more dangerous artifacts, the pieces would be waiting in the dirt for her return.  Unfortunately that assumed a lot of ‘ifs’ that Isabella was hesitant to assume.

* * *

“You’re a brat,” Tony shouted across his lab.  He and Dr. Banner were leaning over a table, watching some sort of chemical reaction occur.  “Not even bothering to tell me that you were discharged.”

“I assumed you just knew everything around here,” she rolled her eyes and crossed the room, carefully avoiding discarded projects, suit parts and beakers bubbling with live chemicals.  “Like some sort of messed up big brother situation.”

He huffed, playing offended.  

“I’ll have you know, I just found out via text message from _Strange_ ,” he held up his cell phone.  “ _My dear Izzy_ didn’t even bother to tell me.  It hurts.”

She snatched the device out of his hands and skimmed over the message from the doctor.  Tossing it on a nearby table, she snorted under her breath.  

“I was busy with work,” Isabella nodded toward the project the duo was working on.  “I’m sure you know all about that.  How many times did I tell you Dr. Strange was coming up this morning?  About a dozen?  It’s your own fault.”

Dr. Banner watched the pair bickering with amused interest before taking a pause in the conversation to speak up.

“I’m glad to see you’re doing well,” he voiced with a smile.  “The cut still clotted and healing properly?”

Isabella turned her focus on the other scientist in the room and flashed a warm smile.  She’d almost forgotten he was there with Tony’s complaining and dramatics.

“It is,” she lifted the edge of her shirt and revealed the wound, now healing cleanly without the layers of bandages.  “Stephen did mention you had helped him with the antidote, I wanted to thank you.  It’s really wonderful not bleeding out and dying.”

Bruce leaned forward and nodded to himself, clearly happy with the rate it was healing up.  

“I’d imagine,” he offered, adjusting his glasses and looking back up at the woman.  “Any word on how long you’re stuck with us?”

“A month,” she muttered un-enthusiastically.  She could almost feel Tony stiffening behind her, listening to the conversation while he tinkered with something.  “Give or take.  Hopefully sooner.”

Bruce gave a noise of polite agreement before the experiment in front of him pulled his attention away.  He apologized quickly and darted across the lab for the computer.  

“A month?  That’s it?” Tony voiced behind her.  She could hear the surprise in his tone, laced with a bit of hurt.  He’d been expecting longer.

“I do have a job to do,” she turned around and frowned.  “But a month is a long time!  I’m all yours for the next thirty days.”

He mumbled something under his breath and returned to whatever mechanical device he’d been playing with.  

“You’re pouting,” she stated bluntly.  “ _Stop_.  I have to go back and finish this project at _least_.”

He threw down his screwdriver and stood up.  

“They can’t send someone else?” he asked sharply.  “Or does the archeologist who nearly lost their life _have_ to be the one to return?”

Isabella folded her arms across her chest.  She understood his concern, truly, she did.  What she didn’t appreciate was the way he was coming across.  

“It’s a personal matter,” she curtly replied, realizing that Banner was now listening in on the passionate exchange.  “It’d be a week tops.  And after that, who knows?  Maybe I’ll follow Hydra around the globe and get my stuff back.  That’s _my_ decision, Tony.”

Isabella could almost see the wave of emotions that were crashing through his brain.  He stayed still, his eyes locked on her while she waited for his response.

“I guess you’re right,” his tone was sharp and he whirled back around to his work station.  “Whatever you say, _Isabella_.”

She hated when he did this.  This passive aggressive bullshit.  Half of her wanted to knock that damn screw driver across the room and the other wanted to smack him upside the head.  

She did neither, and turned on her heel, bidding goodbye to Dr. Banner and coolly leaving the room in a composed, dignified manner.  Isabella could let Tony be the child this time.  

The blockheaded idiot.

* * *

“Real mature, Tony,” Banner piped up after Isabella had stormed out of the lab.  Tony didn’t say a word, tightening a screw on his repulsor gauntlet tighter and tighter until it snapped.  His screw driver shot across the table and he threw his hands down on the surface.  

“She must have hit her head too hard,” he reasoned out loud.  “Or she’s lost her mind.  Why on earth would she want to go back out there?”

Banner crossed the room and picked up Tony’s screw driver, setting it on the table next to him and frowning.

“Maybe she just wants to make sure the job it finished,” he moved back to his personal station and lifted a beaker with a purple liquid to the small reaction he’d been working on that afternoon.  “Lord knows where she’d get that idea.  Clearly _such_ a mystery.”

Tony turned toward him and crossed his arms.

“I have a suit that blows up buildings and a team of super people to help me,” he argued.  “She has a tiny pick-axe and a notebook of ancient languages.”

“And the ability to survive Hydra torture for over a week,” Bruce pointed out quietly.  He dropped a few more liquids into the project and smiled to himself when it shifted colors and turned to smoke.  “Maybe give her a little more credit?  I mean, she also didn’t say you couldn’t go with her.  But that’s just a thought.”

“I’m an idiot,” Tony realized out loud, earning a snorted laugh from his companion.  

“You’re realizing that _now_?” he commented, earning a jab in the ribs from the billionaire.  “I’d recommend leaving her alone for a bit.  Let things cool off before you grovel for forgiveness."

Tony sneered in his direction, grabbing his screwdriver and plopping down in his own seat.

“I don’t grovel,” he argued, picking up his repulsor and working at it again.  He didn’t grovel.  He’d maybe beg a little, and possibly bribe her with an expensive lunch, but never grovel.  

“ _Whatever you say_.”

* * *

 


	4. Chapter 4

**May 2012- New York City**

* * *

“It looks terrible,” Isabella decided when Tony opened her passenger door and she lowered her sunglasses.  “Gaudy, self-absorbed…”

“You've gotten mean in your old age,” he slammed the door shut and gestured her toward the entrance of the building, quickly jogging ahead to hold the door open for the choppy haired recent college graduate.

Inside the lobby of the building, a slim redhead was waiting with her hands pressed into her hips.  Her stern expression lightened when she saw the young brunette, and she opened her arms for a hug.

“Izzy!  It's been too long,” she greeted, pulling the young woman into the embrace.  “Tony didn't tell me you were supposed to be downtown.”

“I wasn't supposed to be,” Isabella looked over at Tony who shrugged and walked forward to press a kiss on Peppers cheek.  “I had plans in Brooklyn all weekend but suddenly my calendar shifted to Manhattan.  It was weird.”

“I wanted her to be here for the lighting ceremony,” he replied with a pout.  Pepper turned to the confused Isabella to explain.  

“We're going completely off the grid tonight,” she revealed, her expression hinting at a bit of surpressed excitement. “Stark Industries is focusing completely on green energy.”

“ _My_ idea,” Tony chimed up, lifting Isabella's suitcase when the driver dropped it next to him.  

“I'm pretty sure it was _my_ idea,” Pepper narrowed her eyes toward the genius and gestured for the duo to follow her.  “We're almost done with everything.  It's pretty much just design elements and power at this point.” They climbed into the elevator and it shot toward the top level of the building.  

“This level is reserved for friends and family only,” Tony announced excitedly, tossing Isabella's bag aside and earning a shout from the girl.  

“I have a three hundred year old skull in there,” she hissed, kneeling next to bag and unzipping it to ensure the cargo was safe.  She cradled the aged bone carefully, noting every inch of it for potential flaws. “ _So-_ you finally created the multi-story monument to your tiny-”

“It's a _legacy_ ,” Tony interrupted before Isabella could finish her remark.  Pepper helped the woman up after she tucked the skull safely into place.  “And it's bigger than your brother’s building.   You can even wave!” He held up a middle finger toward the Briggs International building that shared the skyline with Stark's new monstrosity.

“Is this what he's been doing since they turned down his superhero application?” Isabella turned to Pepper who tried her best to smother the grin forming.  

“Essentially,” she replied quietly.  “It's a very sensitive topic around here.”

“It's not sensitive, they just didn't want someone who was _egotistical_ ,” Tony yelled across the room, moving closer to the window to view the city.  

“That's so rude of them, I have no idea where they would have gotten that idea,” Isabella threw an arm around his shoulders and smirked, staring out into the skyline. “The view is incredible, I'll let you have that.”

He smiled at her, nodding to himself confidently before leaning in and whispering into Isabella's ear.

“Pepper picked the view,” he murmured, both brunettes shooting a look at their red headed companion and grinning.  

“It was almost quiet around here,” Pepper sighed.  Her phone gave a buzz and she held up an hand, looking to the pair.  “This is going to take a minute.  I'll catch up with you two later tonight.  Dinner at _Don’s_?”

“JARVIS?” Called to the AI.

“Reservations are confirmed for 6pm,” the voice replied back.  “And I must say it's wonderful to see you again Miss Izzy.”

“You still have him calling me that?” She glared at Tony and rolled her eyes.  “Home sweet home, I guess.”

She sent a forlorn look toward the Briggs building and shrugged.  

“Stayed with you and Jarvis most nights anyway,” she muttered.  “Where do I sleep?  Or can I rent out the Marriott again?”

Tony looked almost offended.  

“I have a room set up for you here,” he replied, pointing toward the back of the penthouse.  “Bed, desk, laptop, new phone…”

“I should have guessed,” she pulled her old device out of her pocket and passed it over to his open hand.  He clicked a few button and frowned.  

“You've barely used anything on here!” He shot an accusatory look at Isabella while she grabbed her suitcase.  

“I've been in Botswana all semester!” She argued back.  “JARVIS does not work well in the middle of nowhere.”

“He _should_ ,” he grumbled.  “The new operating system will.”

“Wonderful,” she relented, following him down the hall to her room.  He opened the door and Isabella choked back a laugh.  “You kept my bedding!”

The deep violet comforter had aged, but Isabella would have recognized it anywhere.  It'd been a gift from Maria Stark one of the first nights Isabella and Tony had camped out in the yard in LA.

She jumped face first into the bed, inhaling the familiar smells.  It was a little musty, but it still held the familiar scents of the candles Maria liked to light when the Briggs came to visit.  

“Had Happy pull it out of storage yesterday,” Tony chuckled and lifted what Isabella assumed was her new phone to link it with her previous data.  “I'd avoid him for a couple days.  He wasn't particularly _happy_ about the spiders.”

“ _Noted_ ,” she nodded, sitting up in the mess of blankets and pillows.  “Anything fun since Hammer?  Any world saving?  Dying and not telling anyone?  Is Rhodey around?”

“I gave a speech at NYU yesterday,” he shrugged.  “And gave a generous donation to their Anthropology department.  You're welcome.”

A pillow whipped past his head and Isabella frowned at him.

“Don't you dare tamper with my application process!” She warned sharply.  “I'm getting into the master's program the old fashioned way.  With my huge brain.”

“And a rich best friend who has a library named after him,” Tony kissed the screen of her new phone and tossed it in her direction.  “Also you're upset about that, but not exploiting all of my free tech?”

“It makes my research easier,” she mumbled, her fingers tracing across the screen.  “Did I show you that village we found?  Almost two thousand years old in a region chalk full of hunter gatherers, even _today_.”

“About a hundred times,” he walked over to see the pictures she'd taken of the site.  He paused on a picture of her giving a Hamlet pose with an uncovered skull. “You're _such_ a _dork_.”  

“ _Shut up_ ,” she whined, pushing a pillow in his face and shoving him away.  “No one asked you anyway!”  

“Whatever you say Lara Croft,” he pushed her backwards on the bed by her forehead and turned to leave the room.  His phone began to chirp and he frowned, blocking the familiar number.

“Who was that?” Isabella peeked up from her phone.

“SHIELD,” he replied with a shrug.  There was a voicemail.

“Maybe they want you back,” she offered, a suggestive waggle of her eyebrows.  “Are you playing hard to get?”

“I'm playing leave me alone,” he tucked his phone back into his pants and turned to Isabella.  “I have some sweaty contractors to deal with.  You have two hours to change out of that homeless college garb into something respectable.”

“Do these sweaty contractors have abs?” The woman's attention perked up.  

“They're middle aged and married,” he shook his head when Isabelle offered a nonchalant shrug.  “Just use protection.  Two hours, Izzy.”

* * *

As it turned out, not _all_ of the contractors were hairy and sweaty.  In fact, a certain one named Brett was quickly enamored with the faux-heiress.  

It took a few minutes in a storage closet to seal the deal before she left for dinner with Tony and Pepper.  

Tony was waiting for her in one of his Ferrari's making a note to look at his watch and up at the young woman in annoyance.  

She climbed in, adjusting her hair in the mirror and ignoring Tony's dramatic sighs while the car roared to life.  

“Which one?” He asked when she fixed her lipstick.  

“Brett, the concrete guy’s son,” she smirked at him.  “Speaking of which, have you met Captain America yet?  Because can you say America the _booty_ -ful?”  Tony looked like his heart was about to stop.  

“Agh stop,” he grumbled.  “He's older than your grandfather and I don't need the mental image.”

“And you've slept with people younger than _me_ ,” she pointed out quickly, adjusting the wings on her eyeliner.  “I can't tell you how awkward is was getting cereal in the mornings.  Thank goodness for Pepper.”

They continued bickering until they reached the restaurant.  Apparently, someone had clued in the press to a potential appearance by Stark.  Isabella groaned the moment she saw the flashing lights.  

“Just smile and wave,” he gave her arm a supportive squeeze and she nodded slowly.  Ever the gentlemen, Tony opened the door for her and helped her out of the car. 

The moment the press saw the recently exiled Briggs, the questions switched from Stark and his Tower to the recent scandal with Chris and his business empire.  

“Is it true you've denounced your family?”  

“Chris Briggs said in an interview that what you said during the meeting could not be taken back, care to comment?”

“Miss Briggs!  Is it true you're having an affair with Mr. Stark?”  

That one stopped the young woman in her tracks and she gawked at the reporter who asked it.  

“What?” She asked with raised brows.  “You should really think of better questions.  Pepper is right _there_.” Tony grabbed her elbow and pulled her along before she could verbally abuse the reporters further.  

“No one was knocked out, I'm proud of you,” Tony congratulated her on their way to the table where Pepper waited with an apology waiting on her lips.  

“A waiter made the leak after I arrived,” she began to explain, standing to take Isabellas hand. “I'm so sorry.”

“It happens,” Isabella replied tightly, still bristling from the interaction outside.  “Just wish Chris didn't have such a big mouth.”  

The topic was dropped after that.  They discussed the building, Tony's plan to tap into the power grid underwater that night, and Pepper’s press tour in DC the next day.  

* * *

_“Get in here and I will…”_

Isabella groaned and took that as her cue to leave the room.  She had a lot of information on arrowheads she needed to organize anyway.  Her summer internship was brutal with the extra work, but the professor she reported under had a lot of sway at NYU.  It'd be worth it in the end.  Or so she told herself.  

Dropping into her bed, she pulled out of of Tony's tablets and waved a hand around the room, pulling up holo images of the relics they'd found a few weeks earlier.  It wasn't anything world changing, but she'd been tasked with dating, documenting and filing the findings.  

It'd fallen quiet in the other room, which piqued her curiosity.  Isabella closed her notes and walked barefoot into the large room.  

Tony was sitting on the couch, a glass of whiskey in hand, and images of costumed vigilantes circling around him.

“You weren't kidding about the boy band,” Isabella commented, dropping down next to him and pouring herself a glass of the liquor.  

“This is pretty big,” he stated, running a tired hand down his face and studying one of the nearby panels.  “Alien tech, gods from another realm… this changes _everything_.”

Isabella reached forward and grabbed at a glowing cube shape, holding it between her fingers while she read the information attached.  

“I should probably go back to my apartment,” she realized out loud.  This was a lot.  This was going to be very dangerous.  

“You'd be safer here,” his tone was final, offering no options for arguing.  “I'd rather have you nearby if something big happens.”

“Whatever you say,” she patted him on the shoulder, downed her drink and stood up.  “Don't stay up too late.  Might need some rest if the world needs saving.”  

He waved her off half heartedly, pulling up a file on a blonde sporting a long red cape.  

What Isabella didn't know at the time was that this moment was a turning point for both of them.  Interspecies war would pan out, Tony would work with the Avengers for the first time and Isabella would find inspiration for a thesis project.

* * *

The actual battle was uneventful for Isabella.  She stayed in the tower, locking herself in her room and trying to ignore the sirens in the city below.  

Tony keep assuring her it was the safest place to be.  The safest place on the Eastern seaboard.  No matter how many panicked texts she sent him about the building shaking or the footfalls outside of her bedroom door.  

Now he wasn't messaging back.  

The footfalls had turned into voices and one voice in particular shouted demands over everything else.  

That caught her attention.  

If the tower had been compromised, she'd have to do something.  Looters didn't bode well for press.  

“JARVIS?” she tried the AI but nothing happened.  She was alone on this.  

Opening her door, she peered out into the small nook that linked to the rest of the penthouse level.  So far, no one had bothered to wander in her direction.  

She slipped out of the room, ducking behind a corner when a voice moved closer to her.

Whoever it was, he was boastful.  World domination, armies, and broken heroes.  

That made Isabella's heart freeze.  Tony was safe.  He had to be.  He was Iron Man.  Iron Man always saved the day.  

She hopped behind the bar, deciding to risk it and peer over the edge.  

 _Fuck_.  

This wasn't good.  Tony, the ever humble, failed to mention the building wasn't _demigod_ proof.  

Loki was standing less than five feet away from her.  

She dropped down and held a hand over her mouth, just in case her rational decided to shit the bed and let out a scream.  

Tony.

She needed to let Tony know.  

Isabella scrambled for the cell phone in her pocket, rapidly typing a message to her friend.  If the world was just, he was ok and would know what to do.  

Her message sent at the same moment she received one from him.  

**_Stay in your room._ **

Helpful.  

She began to explain her predicament and he gave her a few instructions.  

There were metal cuffs for a new suit prototype on a table near the sofa.  If she could get them to the bar, he'd be able to help.  

She poked her head over the bar again.  Loki had moved outside and she was alone in the room.  

Cuffs… she looked around the room before spotting them on the coffee table next to a half finished bottle of wine and a playboy magazine.  

She'd have to file that away for after the alien crisis.  

It was probably the most stressful thirty second of her life- sprinting across the room and snatching up the tiny devices.  

She practically dove back behind the bar and slipped them onto the counter, trying to level her breathing so Loki didn't realize she was there.  She looked to her phone again.

**_I'll be there soon.  Move when I give the distraction_. **

A jolt shook the building and Isabella's eyes shot upward toward the roof.  She was never letting Tony make a safety judgement call again.

He arrived, talking and threatening and moving his way toward the bar, where he made brief eye contact with Isabella.  He motioned for her to stay quiet and continued talking.  He poured himself a drink, clasped his cuffs on and sauntered over to the demigod.  

He had to have had a plan.  There was no way he was making this up as he went.  

Isabella assumed the crash of glass was her cue to move.  

She ran as quickly as she could for the emergency staircase and sprinted; to very the bottom level of Stark Tower.  

The lobby was all but destroyed.  Blown up cars littered the street in front of the building and an explosion down the road rattled the tower.  

“ _I_ _zzy_?” her phone chimed to life and she quickly pulled it to her ear.

“I swear to god Tony, you better not be dead or I’ll kill you!” her voice cracked at the threat, exposing the fear that now gripped her with the carnage outside.

“I will admit, on this one occasion, I made a bad call,” he sounded out of breath.  “I had JARVIS track down a structurally safe building to ride out the rest of the attack in.”

Isabella had moved closer to the glass doors of the lobby.  She could barely see the energy field at the top of the tower, but she could definitely spy the foreign objects pouring out of it.  

“Is the attack going to end?” she whispered, a blast of energy hitting the sidewalk in front of her.  The blast hit her back, throwing her against the marble flooring.  At some point during the ordeal, she dropped her phone.  She located it when Tony began shouting her name.  

“I’m here,” she mumbled, resting a hand on her forehead where a small cut had formed.  “I’m fine.  Tony please don’t do anything stupid.”

He was quiet on the end of the line before his voice broke through the phone.

“Get to the safe zone,” he instructed, pausing to grunt.  There was a small crash on the other line.  “And I’ll find you when it’s safe.  I _promise_.”

And then it all changed.  They changed.  The world changed.  It didn't seem like the biggest disaster was Chris taking her money.  She had better things to focus on, more _important_ things.

Tony did keep his promise to find her.  When the Chitauri were defeated and Loki had been taken down, he found her in the exact location he’d instructed.  

She threw her arms around his shoulders and through a combination of tears and yelling, told him how worried she’d been that he’d done something stupid.

And he had.  And she yelled at him.

_“...A nuclear bomb?!  Tony are you insane?!”_

  
Not _all_ things had changed that day.

* * *

 


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

 “This is _very_ vague,” Coulson frowned through the video chat at Isabella, who shrugged.  

“I tried my best,” she lied lightly, shuffling through her notes for effect.  “I guess the interns got paranoid, or something.  I thought they were sending straightforward information to you.  I should have checked more thoroughly.”

Coulson continued studying the notes Isabella had sent over.  She’d fudged a few translations and faked ignorance on anything else.  Almost immediately after it’d been faxed over, she received a call from Coulson.

“What about Stark?  Does he have any input on this?” the agent asked, his brows knitted in frustration.  

“Didn’t realize I was supposed to ask,” Isabella replied casually, offering a small shrug.  “And he’s busy dealing with something else right now.”

That caught the agent by surprise, a seldom victory for Isabella whenever she dealt with the spy.  

“I didn’t hear anything about that,” he replied quietly, clearing his throat.  “Any idea what it is?”

Isabella smirked before replying.

“Of course,” she said, her finger lingering on the ‘end call’ button on the phone Coulson had sent to her for these private conversations.  “He’s taking care of his injured friend.”

She closed the chat and let out a long held breath.  She was pretty certain that SHIELD had the whole place bugged, despite Tony’s assurances that he regularly swept the place.  Any slip up, and they’d be on to her.

Isabella made a mental note to continue being careful.  She’d bring Tony in, _eventually_ , the timing just wasn’t right.  She couldn’t drop her guard just yet.

“You know Agent Coulson too?” a voice asked over Isabella’s shoulder and she froze.  

“Only recently,” she looked over and smiled at whoever had slipped in while she was on the call.  “You know, Hydra and stuff.”

Bucky Barnes looked unconvinced, his arms folded over his chest and a brow arched.  Isabella could have sworn she saw the makings of a smirk or a grin, but she attributed it to the light.  

Of course he knew she was lying out her asshole.  

“Mhm,” he moved from the doorway of the common area to the sofa Isabella had commandeered for work.  “And that’s why you went to the opposite end of the compound to have a conversation with a man you’ve just _recently_ met.”

Granted, he was right.  Her room wasn’t safe from Tony barging in whenever he pleased, and most of the compound was littered with Avengers or staff.

Isabella frowned, trying to think up an excuse.  The guy was a trained assassin with decades of training in detecting lies.  And she was a scientist who was in way over her head.  

She decided to give him some half-truths.  

“One of my interns was close with him,” she admitted, a truth in that one of her interns had secretly been an undercover SHIELD agent.  “He’d visit and see what we were up to from time to time and say hello.  I didn’t realize what he was involved with until recently.”  Two truths and a lie.  Easy enough.  

“That definitely explains the cell phone that looks nothing like Stark tech,” Bucky mused before reaching to pick up one of Isabella’s notebooks.  The researcher jumped so quickly, she could feel the stitching on her side wound reopen, earning an audible cry of pain while Bucky set the notebook down.  “ _Definitely_ not hiding anything.” He commented quietly.

Isabella regarded him with a glare, gathering her things and stacking them in her lap.  

“What do you want?” she asked, her tone laced with suspicion toward the normally polite visitor.  

“I’m just curious in whether or not your little project might jeopardize the safety of this team,” he replied, his expression shifting from amusement to terrifying seriousness.  

“You and Tony don’t even like each other,” Isabella huffed, tucking her bundle under her arm and standing from the sofa.  “My role in any of this doesn’t matter.  I have no intention of bringing any of you along for the ride.  So, if you’ll excuse me-” She began to part, but was stopped by him grabbing her elbow.  

“You’re bleeding through your shirt,” he noted softly.  Isabella glanced down and covered the wound with her books.  

“ _Thanks_ ,” she hissed under her breath and continued back toward her room.  At least she’d be able to find some privacy there, until Tony inevitable hears about the injury.  

29 days, she reminded herself dryly.  Isabella could reasonably avoid Bucky and anyone else who might be nosing into her life until then.  After that, Isabella Briggs was a pro at disappearing.  

* * *

“It’s just a small cut,” Isabella complained when Tony barged into the room with a first aid kit, not even an hour later.  “It stopped bleeding.  I’m fine.  Go back and sulk in your lab.”

The pair hadn’t discussed their recent dispute since Isabella stormed out of the lab the day before.  Yet, Tony was as overprotective as ever, forcing her to sit still while he cleaned and changed the gauge protecting her wound.

“I’m finished sulking until you aren’t bleeding all over my floors,” he replied sharply, rubbing a bit of alcohol over the cut and making Isabella hiss at the sudden pain.  “This is  _real_ hard wood, Izzy, and it’s very difficult to get blood stains out of it.”

Isabella watched while he concentrated on her side before offering a lopsided smile.  

“That’s what _she_ said,” she mumbled, waiting for a reaction from her friend.  He set the first aid supplies aside and stared at her.  

“How old are you?” he asked, his face completely devoid of humor.  She snorted.

“How old are _you_?” she retorted, smirking.  “I think I see some _grey_ in that goatee of yours.”

“You’re a punk,” he threw a cotton ball in her direction and stood up.  “And I’ve decided that I’m not bugging you about Columbia until one day before your alleged _trip_.  You’re welcome.”  

28 days, Isabella mentally noted.  29 days of avoiding Bucky and 28 days to convince Tony to leave her alone.  

“Aw, you’re just a saint,” she sighed with an eye roll.  “Bruce convince you that you were being a drama queen again?”   Tony paused and held up a finger.

“ _No_ , because I always bring an appropriate amount of drama to every situation,” he countered.  “But he did help me realize that it’s been forever since we’ve been together and I intend to enjoy that without fighting with you.”  

 _Bless his heart_ , Isabella thought to herself with a small grin.   

He waited for a response with an expression that immediately reminded Isabella of a puppy waiting for a treat.

“ _Fine_ ,” she replied with a pseudo-begrudging scowl.  “But you’re buying me pizza tonight and we’re watching a movie I pick out.”

Tony’s face lit up and he nodded, holding a hand up as he went for her door.  

“Ok, deal,” he agreed.  “Get your grumpy ass to the main living room in one hour.”

“I’ll see you then,” she waved him off, forcing another smile as the door shut behind him.  One less headache behind her, she mused, her eyes drifting to her stack of notes.  She pulled out a single page from the stack, frowning at an unfamiliar line of Kree.  At least, she’d assumed it was Kree when they’d found it.  

Yet now, as she studied the symbols, it looked like another language entirely.

Where was a Thor when you needed him?

* * *

 Christopher Briggs, the CEO of Briggs International, was not a patient man.  

When he gave an order, he expected it to be executed perfectly.  He did, after all, hire the most competent individuals that Hydra had to offer for his energy project.

So, when he received the news that Captain America and The Winter Solider had trashed his Colombian research site, Chris was less than thrilled.

Heads were going to roll.  He couldn’t afford any more setbacks.  His investors were already warning of pulling out if he didn’t produce something substantial soon, and with one of his labs in shambles, Chris was trying to keep his head above water.

He called in his assistant and got her in touch with the various heads of his labs.  He ordered a handful of deaths and demanded a full investigation with regard to what had happened.  

Today, he’d received the full report of the events in Colombia.  

SHIELD, of course, had been involved.  No wonder Captain America had been so quick to jump in once they’d made progress… at least, that’d been Chris’ initial assumption. 

It was toward the end of the report where the lab had revealed the name of the lead scientist on SHIELD’s end.  

Dr. Isabella Briggs.

He had to pour himself a glass of scotch once he’d read the line.  Sipping at the glass, he tripled checked that the scientist’s credentials matched with those of his _half-sister_ , the bastard legacy of the Briggs empire who nearly inherited it all.  

Sure, enough, his instincts had rung correct.  He slammed his glass on his desk and called for his assistant:  

_Where was Isabella currently?_

_Reach out to Stark if need be._

Christopher Briggs needed answers now.  

* * *

“ _Shush_ ,” Isabella hit Tony in the shoulder.  She clutched onto one of the throw pillows from the couch and focused on the television screen.  “You know this is my favorite part.”

“It’s such a bad movie,” he whispered, much to Isabella’s irritation.  She swatted at him again and he avoided the attack with a victorious grin.  

After pizza, the pair had settled into the living room while Tony teased Isabella about her movie choice:   _The Princess Bride_.

“You’ve seen it a million times,” he complained while she loaded it on the screen and told FRIDAY to turn the lights down.  Isabella threw a piece of popcorn at him and shook her head.

“Yes, and I plan on watching it a million and one times after tonight,” she shot back at him.  “It’s a phenomenal movie.  I’m sorry we’re not watching Monty-Python _again_.”

The bickering continued throughout the movie, until Isabella tried quieting him for the famous ‘As you wish’ sequence.  

“What are you watching?” a voice piped up behind Tony.  Both brunette’s whirled around, Isabella’s face contorting into a glare, while Tony grinned at her irritation.  Steve just looked interested in the movie.

“I’m _trying_ to watch _The Princess Bride_ ,” Isabella muttered angrily, returning her attention to the film.  “ _Great_ , I missed it.  I’m rewinding it until you shut up.”  

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean-” he began, but Tony held up a hand to silence him.  

“She’s talking to _me_ ,” he informed the super soldier.  “And you should join us, it’s a pretty famous movie.  Izzy, start the movie over again.”

The look Isabella shot him was a mixture of hatred and relief.  She eagerly offered the spot between her and Tony for Steve to sit and passed him the bowl of popcorn. 

“Ok, here we go,” she announced excitedly, snuggling into the sofa and sending one last glare in Tony’s direction.  

The movie played out, and to Isabella’s surprise, she found herself focusing on Steve and Tony’s expressions more than the actual film.

She hadn’t shared a night like this in some time.  A small part of her missed how close she and Tony used to be.  There was a time where she would have told every thought that passed her mind.  Now, she was just scared of pulling him into this chaos and getting him hurt.  

Tony’s life was too much to risk on someone like her.  

When Steve finished the last handful of popcorn, Isabella offered to grab some more.  She wanted to get her head straight and enjoy the remainder of the movie.  When she hopped over the couch, she nearly stumbled, resulting in both men nearly jumping to help her.

“I’m fine,” she reported, landing safely on the solid floor.  “Anything else while I’m up?”

Tony listed off a few snacks and the various locations they could be found while Steve declined her offer and thanked her.  

It was amazing to her that Tony had found such a deep connection with this group of people.  From who Isabella had met, they all couldn’t be more different, yet there was a significant bond there that she couldn’t quite place.  Was it familial?  It reminded her a little of her and Tony’s relationship.  Intimacy and fierce loyalty.

She pondered through these thoughts while pulling out the stacks of treats Tony had requested.  When she slipped the popcorn into the microwave, she started a fresh cup of coffee, curious as to which machine would finish first.

Fortunately, the coffee won out and she sipped at the solid black mug while cleaning out the old bowl and transferring the bags contents.  

“ _Sir, you have a call on line 1 from Mr. Christopher Briggs_ ,” FRIDAY chimed through the level.

Isabella froze.  She could hear the movie in the next room pause and a pair of feet join her in the kitchen.  Tony shot her a wide-eyed looked, his thumb hovering over his cell phone. 

“Is it _really_ him?” she asked, her voice dropping to a whisper like her brother was some kind of secret.   

Tony glanced at the phone and nodded.  

“I won’t answer it,” he decided firmly, about to send the call to voicemail.  Isabella practically threw her mug down and held her hands up.

“No, no!  Answer it!” she insisted with raised brows.  She was genuinely curious as to what her brother would be interested in.  Tony mentioned a phone call to Briggs International while she’d been missing, but for Chris to be calling personally?  This late?  Something was up.

Tony groaned and rolled his eyes, holding the phone to his ear and moving closer toward Isabella so she could hear.  

“I swore I told my assistant to filter out calls from assholes,” Tony greeted, waiting for the second billionaire to respond.

“Nice to hear from you too, Stark,” Chris responded gruffly.  He sounded older than the last time Isabella had heard his voice.  “Hope all is well?”

“Why are you calling?” Tony cut straight to the point.  Isabella could feel him tensing, clearly agitated a the interruption in their peaceful evening.  

“I heard dear Isabella was under the weather,” he replied softly.  Isabella knew that tone well.  He was fishing for something- information… she frowned at Tony.  “I wanted to make sure she’d gotten back from Colombia in good health.”

Steve had joined the duo in the kitchen and shot the pair a questioning look toward them when they both stilled.  Isabella blinked back first, ushering Steve over to listen on the call as well, while nudging Tony to respond.

“Since when do you try to keep up with Izzy’s whereabouts?” Tony asked, his tone sharpening.  Suddenly Isabella was happy Steve would be there to tame whatever rage was brewing in her old friend.  Phone calls with Chris usually ended with a few broken belongings.  

“Since I heard Hydra picked up a SHIELD dig team she was part of,” her brother revealed calmly.  Tony and Steve’s eyes immediately settled on her and she flushed.  Of course.  Wonderful.  Amazing.

Her mind ran through a list of expletives directed toward her scum of an older brother.

“ _I can explain_ ,” she mouthed slowly, Tony’s expression shifting between anger and confusion.

“Well, she isn’t here,” he hissed back.  “If that’s what you’re wondering.  I haven’t seen her since she left for Brazil.  No phone calls either.  I’m actually getting a little worried.”

Chris hummed on the other end.

“Let me know once you hear back from her, mmk?” Chris replied.  The sound of a second voice was muffled out through the line.  “We should catch up soon, Stark.”

The line cut dead and Tony lowered the device, his eyes fixed on Isabella.  

“SHIELD?” he simply asked, his hand shaking.  It was the calm before the storm.  Isabella knew he was testing the waters before deciding which emotion he was going to embrace.  “Since when is _SHIELD_ interested in buried history?”

Isabella’s mouth went dry while she tried stuttering out an answer to his question.  She would have to phrase it carefully- avoiding buzzwords and things that might trigger a negative response.  

“It’s just-,” she tried to begin.  “I’m not a- look, Tony it was for _your_ own safety.  I was sworn to silence.  The project is… sensitive.  Any leak of information could be deadly.”

And anger was the winner of Tony’s emotion contest.  She really shouldn’t have been surprised, that response she’d stumbled over had been a _real_ winner.

Tony slammed the phone on the counter and straightened his spine, towering over the shorter woman.  She remained in place, trying her best to keep a calm mask on.  If she didn’t poke the fire, he’d simmer down and they could talk it over later.  She tried to remind herself that some of this fury was from his conversation with Chris- it was just misdirected in her direction for now.

“That’s _exactly_ what I want to hear,” he snapped sarcastically.  “The one person in my life I try to keep out of this is a- a what?  A consultant on a deadly project?  Are you stashing drugs away in your little _arrowheads_ and _stick toys_?”

Steve watched the heated conversation, ready to intervene if need be.  The intensity of Steve’s gaze suggested he hadn’t seen Tony this enraged in some time.  

Isabella didn’t mean to jump into the fighting pit, but the condescending tone he had about her one and only passion irked her.  

“I’m the _lead_ scientist on the project,” she shot back angrily.  If Tony was going to be a dick about her life’s work, so be it, but she wasn’t going to protect his ass from the truth now.  “I know every inch of what we were researching and _more._ _That’s_ why Hydra picked me up and that’s why I’m going _back_.”

She eyed him, daring him to give her more opportunities to hit him verbally.  

He took a step forward only for Steve’s hand to hold his shoulder back.  

“Are you insane?” he barked at her.  “I was ready to plan your _funeral_ over a week ago and you’re ready to jump right back into harm’s way?  I know you better than that _Isabella_ , and you cannot be that stupid.  ”

Isabella gaped at him a moment, before shouting back at him.

“Seriously?  You’re going to lecture me about personal safety?” she pushed off of the counter she’d been leaning on and leaned into his face.  “Who was the idiot who decided to become a fucking _superhero_ after being a prisoner of war?  Or the guy who casually thought throwing himself into a space portal with a nuke- was just a dandy idea?  You have no right to to stand here and lecture me.”

“You lied to me!” he shook Steve’s hand off, throwing an accusing  finger at her.  “About SHIELD!  You know my feelings about Fury’s little secret society.  Why didn’t you talk to me before… before… throwing your life away from _someone else’s agenda_?”  

“And you haven’t kept secrets from me before?” she snarled in return.  “Iron Man ring a bell?  The Accords?  What about _Ultron_?  Didn’t bother owning up to _that_ in person, huh?  I found that out through my _secret-_ **_fucking-_ ** _society friends_.  Imagine how it felt to find out that my best friend had made a murder-bot for _fun_ , and he couldn’t even grow the balls to tell his oldest friend.”  

“You two need to calm down, separate yourselves for a bit and we can-,” Steve interjected, but the pair wasn’t listening.  Both brunettes had famous tempers, and a super soldier couldn’t stop their mouths from hissing insults to one another.

“I was trying to protect _you_ ,” he snapped back, his hand slamming on the counter  to emphasize his point.  “I was trying to protect _everyone_.  You don’t know how many nightmares I have over Sokovia…   _Jesus_ Isabella, what the hell are you thinking?.”  

Isabella stood her ground.  She was ready to shoot a few more low shots, but the pained look Steve gave her lowered her defenses a bit.

“Then _you_ should understand exactly what I was trying to do,” she stated in a low voice, her green eyes met Tony’s brown, holding his gaze.  “The whole point was to shut this down without anyone getting involved.”

He fell silent at this and Isabella took this as her opportunity to leave the room.  Tears pricked at the edges of her eyelids and she just hoped she was out of sight before they started to flow down her cheeks.  

If she was taking it upon herself to shoulder the burden of the planet, no one needed to see her heart breaking. 

* * *

 


	6. Chapter 6

* * *

It was Steve who attempted to pull Isabella out of her room the next morning.

She had her face buried in pillows, her research strewn about the room, and a few empty bottles of moscato stacked next to her bed.  He took in the sight with a low sigh, bending to pick up the scattered paperwork just in time to miss one of the empty wine bottles being thrown at his head.

“ _Hey_!” he shouted in warning, his voice lowering as Isabella’s head shot up out of the bed in a panic.

“I thought you were Tony,” she quickly threw up her hands in apology.  “I’m so sorry!”  

“You probably shouldn’t throw wine bottles at him either,” Steve countered, stacking the paperwork on her desk and crossing the room.  “I think he drank himself to sleep as well.”

“Good,” she huffed with a snort.  She threw back the comforter covers, ignoring Steve’s presence as she walked toward her dresser in just panties and a tank top.  “Maybe his liver will fail.”

“You don’t mean that,” Steve muttered, avoiding eye contact with the woman by running a nervous hand through his blonde hair.  

“ _Maybe I do_ ,” she grumbled, pulling on a pair of sweats and a tee shirt.  “Since when does he think he can dictate my life?”

“To be fair, you did nearly die,” the super soldier shrugged in her direction now that she was fully clothed.

“You know, he didn’t bother calling me during the crap in DC,” she mused, plucking a half empty bottle of opened wine off of her desk and chugging down the remnants.  “Just called me a few days later to tell me about something that happened with Pepper in France.  He was super casual, like I wasn’t sitting by my radio in Brazil begging God to make sure he was far away.”  

She gave a bitter laugh before tossing the bottle into a nearby trash bin.  

“No offense-,” she mumbled after a brief glance in Steve’s direction.  “I know the whole Hydra thing hasn’t been the best for you.”

“No kidding,” Steve forced a chuckle, shaking his head before speaking again.  “If it’s any consolation, he probably would have torn down the entire Latin American continent if Buck and I hadn’t tracked you down.  I’ve seen Tony panic a few times, but this was next level for him.”

Isabella let out a long groan before dropping down in her desk chair, swiveling around anxiously.

“Now I feel bad.” she mumbled, running her hands down her face.  “Ok, but can you blame me for keeping this all a secret?  I was _pretty sure_ he was about to bust out the suit last night.”

Steve watched the woman with a pause.  Her make-up was smeared, her normally neat brown hair now frizzing around her face.  She needed sympathy today.

“We could have helped,” Steve tried to reason softly.  

“The _‘we’_ is exactly why I didn’t want any of you involved,” she mumbled, barely registering a second body enter the room.  “I pull in Tony, and suddenly I have to worry about getting Captain America killed because I didn’t properly vet an intern.”

“Well, it’s a little late for that one, doll,” Bucky replied, standing with his arms across his chest next to the sitting Steve.  

“Don’t you have _other_ people to stalk in the shadows?” Isabella shot back with a weak glare.  She looked almost too tired to be angry anymore.

“You’re a special case,” a smirk playing on his expression.

“Bucky figured out everything about a week ago,” Steve translated quietly, leaning on his legs and clasping his hands.  He maintained a steady gaze with Isabella until she registered what the hero had said and began to stammer a response.

“Excuse me?” she whipped her head in Bucky’s direction.  “Do you suddenly speak _Kree_?”

“And a combination of Mandarin and… was it Latin? _Very impressive_ ,” Bucky shrugged nonchalantly.  Steve could tell his friend was almost enjoying flustering Dr. Briggs.

“You were in _my room_ ,” she continued with wide eyes before throwing an accusatory finger in Steve’s direction.  “And you let him!”

Steve held a hand up in an attempt to calm the woman, but she jumped from her seat and started toward Bucky in a fury, shoving him weakly with the palm of her hand. 

“That’s- sensitive- material,” she hissed, hitting him again.  “I swear to god if Natasha Romanoff is digging through the Colombian soil right now… _you had no right_!”  

She hit him one more time before exhaustion overwhelmed her and she dropped onto the bed next to Steve.  Heaving a breath and cursing her damaged body, Bucky looked her over.

“You done?” he inquired, earning another scowl and grunt of frustration from the scientist.  “I just needed to make sure you were on our side.  Everything seemed too convenient in Colombia.”

“You thought I was Hydra?” she choked out a sharp laugh.  “Don’t make me laugh, you might hurt my bruised ribs.”

“I didn’t know about it until he’d already done his research,” Steve added quickly, attempting to defuse the tension.  “By then, there wasn’t a point in bringing it up.  You were safe, and Tony didn’t _need_ to know what was happening.”

“The cat’s out of the bag now,” Bucky reminded the pair.  “Well, _a little_ , Tony knows and he’s not exactly happy about it.  He’s been trying to get in contact with Fury and Coulson all morning.”

Isabella threw an arm over her eyes and let out another sigh.  

“Do you just skulk about and listen to private phone calls all day, Barnes?” she shot back at him, remaining on her back.

“It’s a hobby of mine, yeah,” he countered.  “And _Barnes_?  I thought we were finally at Bucky?”

“ _S_ _tupid cartoon nickname_ ,” Isabella hummed to herself before sitting up abruptly.  “Shit- _SHIELD._ ”

“There she is,” Bucky muttered to Steve, earning a short nod from his friend.

“We need to get the weapon,” she realized out loud with a frown.  “Like, _soon_.”

“I was under the impression that SHIELD was the one funding the research?” Steve questioned the scientist as she jumped to her feet and began shuffling through the mess on her floor.  She grabbed a report she’d written up for the field journal, shoving it into Bucky’s hands.  

“Translate it.” she demanded, continuing to search through the paperwork.  

“It’s dated a week before she went missing,” Bucky explained to Steve for context.  “‘ _Franklin has been acting jumpy since we discovered the Kree powersource from the texts.  When I questioned him about his behavior, he confessed to being worried about a sick family member.  Thinking nothing of it, the team went to bed.  The next morning, Franklin and half of our translated SHIELD reports were missing.  I was assured every member of the team had been vetted…’_ you get the idea,” he set the paper down and looked to Steve for a response.

“You knew there was a double agent?” Steve asked Isabella as she plucked a few papers up and shifted them into the proper order in her hands.

“I wasn’t sure if he was from a competing university program or a member of the Colombian government trying to profit off of the research,” she admitted, passing Bucky the stack she’d compiled.  “ _Obviously_ , after Hydra paid us a visit, I connected two and two.  Fortunately, he never found the _actual_ reports, just what I was about to send to SHIELD that afternoon,” she turned to her desk and pulled a large folder from the bottom of a pile of books.

“If an Level 3 agent could double cross him and get in the field, what of the secretary passing my correspondence to Coulson?  Or the phone line?  I can’t take my chances, no matter how trustworthy Phil is,” she continued with her explanation.  “And Tony…”

“You didn’t want him involved with Hydra again,” Steve finished the thought, earning a small nod from the woman.  

“Can you blame me?  You heard him when he mentioned Sokovia,” she muttered with a shiver.

“There’s no feasible way you can do this alone,” Bucky announced, pulling both Steve and Isabella’s attention toward him.

“I know,” she replied, holding up the folder and passing it to the super soldiers.  Steve opened it while Bucky peered over his shoulder.  “The only people who knew the truth took it to their graves.  It was so terrifying powerful that _a SHIELD agent who reported directly to Coulson_ ; vowed not to say a word until I gave the go ahead.”

The folder contained all of the information Isabella had compiled during her medical recovery.  

She explained, given her consulting status with SHIELD, she had access to all of the information on Inhumans the spy agency had, including the few reports she’d already sent to them.  Additionally, she’d managed to sketch a few pictures of the crystal powersource and print a few maps of the site where she’d circled important areas.

“Why bother keeping a record at all, if you were so concerned about secrecy?” Steve finally asked as Bucky finished reading.  

“The plan was to contact Coulson and get him _physically_ to the site,” she replied.  “I wanted to go over everything in person, _after_ I had all of the information I could gather.  It could have been harmless, it could have meant nothing…  I wanted to be sure before calling him in and raising red flags in the intelligence community.”

Isabella felt a lump forming in her throat, she swallowed before continuing.  

“Hydra showed up _the day before_ I was going to go into the village and contact him,” Isabella dropped into her chair and stared down at the floor.  “I’ve made a hell of a mess.”

“We’ll figure this out,” Steve promised earnestly, reaching forward and giving her hands a supportive squeeze.  

“And Tony?” she whispered the name.

“You know you’re going to have to be honest with him,” Steve replied firmly.  “No more secrets.  We know who we trust in the team and if we’re going to beat Hydra to the source, we can’t be squabbling over things like children.”

* * *

Tony was nursing a hangover, furious, and still waiting on Maria Hill to return his voicemails.  

Leaning his head on his desk, he gripped the crystal glass next to him and took another sip of his bourbon.  

The hardest part of all of this was that Isabella had _willingly_ lied to him.  

Even considering his feelings about SHIELD, she looked at him through bruises and scars and _lied_ to his face.  They never lied to each other.

Maybe he had stretched the truth… or neglected to tell her about a few things, but he’d never outright lied to her before.  Besides, anything straying from the truth was for her own safety.  She knew that.  She knew the risks if she knew too much.

“I bought you that bourbon for your birthday last year and you’re just now getting to it?” Isabella’s voice drifted over him with a tense chuckle.  She’d entered the lap with her dark brown hair thrown in a messy bun and a pair of sweats and a Tshirt on.

“ _FRIDAY_ , I thought I told you to lock the doors,” he grumbled, sitting up at his table and glaring at the ceiling.

“I know, _literally,_ all of your override codes,” Isabella reminded him softly, taking the seat in front of him and lifting the bottle.  “Do you know why I picked this one out?” she asked him, holding the bottle in the air after examining the label.  

Anger and curiosity mixed in his buzzing mind.  

“Why?” he questioned, interested in where this was leading after their screaming match the night before.  She was being _too_ calm.  He hated when she was calm like this.  It was like the eye of a hurricane, there was more to come.  

“It was made in Richford, New York,” she pressed her finger under the distillery location.  “It was a family owned business that moved from Kentucky to New York just before the first World War.  It’s not famous by any means, but I remember your mother telling us about your dad the first time you crashed your car.  Something about social responsibility and starting from the bottom…”

He grabbed the bottle out of her hands and studied the label briefly.  Sure enough, his father’s birthplace was printed on the bottom in neat script.  

“Even _more_ reason to drink,” he muttered, pouring more into his glass.  “And don’t you dare say anything.  You think I didn’t notice your little trip to my wine cellar last night?  Those were Pepper’s favorites.  What are you even doing here?”  He’d cut to the chase a little more quickly than he’d planned.  Waiting for Part 2 of Hurricane Isabella, he was astonished by her reaction.

Isabella just shrugged the comment off.

“I wanted to apologize,” she began, picking anxiously at her nails.  “And I wanted to tell you that it was stupid of me to lie to the one person who actually gives a shit about me in this world.”

It took a full ten seconds of Tony gaping in shock at the normally stubborn woman before he spoke up.

“ _Damn right_ ,” he agreed sharply.  “I’ve never made my feelings about SHIELD a secret to you.  They lie and cheat and hurt their own people.  I didn’t want that life for you, Izzy.  You’re better than all of this.  Better than having to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders.”  

His voice dropped as he said the last part, his attention shifting to fidget with the crystal glass in his hand, swirling the brown liquid around in circles.  If this had been years ago, they would have been screaming at each other or broken something by now.

“I’m sorry,” she stated into the silence.  “I shouldn’t have lied, but I want you to know that I wouldn’t have said no to them.  The work is… it’s unlike _anything_ I’ve ever done in my life.  I’ve supervised people that I’ve only read about and admired from afar.”

“I could have made that happen without throwing you into Hydra’s torture dungeon,” Tony shot back, gesturing toward the bruising along her bare arms.  “You deserve an easy life.  That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you.  You wanted to be an academic?   _Awesome_ , I’ll fund your degree.  If you had wanted to be an airhead socialite, I would have done that for you too.  Just this… this is for the broken, Izzy, and you’re whole: You’re _complete_.”

He could see the words struck a chord in her.  Her expression wavered and she opened her mouth to say something, before closing it and frowning.  

“I was never…” she paused, trying to find the right words for him.  She gently reached across the table and took his hands in her.  “When you saw the cruelty of the real world, what did you do?”

“I promised to stop it,” he answered slowly.  “But what does that-,” she squeezed his hand and continued.  

“And when you saw what Chris had done behind our dads’ backs, what did you do?”

“Punched him in the face and protected you.”

“And if you found something that would destroy those you love and the world you cherish, what would you do?”

“Stop it,” he answered quietly.  “I’d stop it and protect the ones I love, _obviously_.”

“Even if that meant you getting hurt?” she pressed, her green eyes boring into him.  

“Even if it meant I _died_ ,” he amended softly.

“You can’t protect your loved ones if you’re dead,” she pointed out softly.  “And hear me when I say this: you and Pepper and Happy and Rhodey… you’re my family.  When SHIELD reached out to me and I began to understand everything… I thought I was protecting you by staying quiet, by not getting you involved.  If you were far away in New York and I was in Colombia, there was no way you could get caught up in the crossfire.”

“You never had to do this alone,” he replied, shaking his head at her.  “You don’t have to lie and hide and take on the devil on your own.  There’s a reason I have a super suit and have friends with incredibly powerful abilities.  You know, _teamwork_ , and all that nonsense...”

Isabella wiped at a stray tear, laughing, as she began to speak again.  

“I told _you_ that years ago,” she murmured, with a sniffle.  “It took you getting hammered and yelling at me during _The Princess Bride_ , to finally get that through your head?”

He reached for his glass and took another swallow.

“ _Honestly_ , I thought Steve said it to me.”

He didn’t even see the crumpled piece of paper flying at him until it bounced off his forehead.  

“I can’t believe you!”

“I’m kidding!  Izzy!  Hey, give that back!”

* * *

Tony, Bucky, Steve and Isabella met together around dusk that day.  Isabella outlined her concerns, reported the energy findings and went into detail about the specific questions the Hydra scientists had demanded of her.  

“Coulson is supposed to arrive in the morning,” Tony supplied, visibly rattled, after every piece of truth was finally out in the open.  Isabella could tell that no matter how much he’d assured her it’d be fine, there’s no way he’d ever be able to accept the full extent of the abuse.  

“I’ve poked a few lines of intelligence and there’s murmurs in the field about an alien weapon,” Bucky added, sliding a tablet toward Tony with a frown.  “Also there’s been mention of high profile investors, but no names.  We’re really going to have to play this close to the chest.”

“We just need to think in terms of application, who’d want a powerful alien weapon?” Steve quizzed the group.  “Weapons manufacturers, warlords…”

“You don’t think…?” Isabella immediately turned to Tony with raise brows.  The genius lowered the tablet and looked at her shaking his head.  

“There’s no way…” he vocalized, though there was hesitation present in his tone.  

“I’m looking into him,” Bucky announced to the duo, earning a look of confusion from Steve.  

“Briggs International is a military weapons manufacturing company,” Tony supplied the super soldier.  Isabella nodded in agreement to the information.  Chris was a power hungry monster.  If he’d heard about an extraterrestrial weapon somewhere....

“It could be why her brother was calling on her whereabouts,” Steve reasoned out loud.

“I’ve found a few trails connected to him, but they’re low level contracts with mid-level executives,” Bucky sighed in frustration.  “If he’s tied to any of this, he’s hiding it well, which makes him even more dangerous.”

Isabella sat in silence, running over the information in her head while they discussed how they planned to tackle this particular outpost of Hydra.  

“We need to cut off the money,” Bucky rationalized, earning supportive grunts of agreement from Tony and Steve.  

“But, we need to confirm the money _beforehand_ , and that’s going to be a bit trickier if Briggs is involved,” Tony snorted, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back in his chair, deep in thought.

“What if it isn’t?” Isabella voiced, her brows knitted in thought.  “What would we need to prove it?  Bank records?  Computer records?”  

“Anything digital and preferably physical that creates a link,” Bucky stared directly at her, reading her face.  She could tell the former assassin knew where this was leading.

“What if-,” she looked to Tony, ready to brace for an over the top response.  “What if I set up a meeting with Chris?  Or I just show up unannounced?  Get into his office, maybe cause a scene about the inheritance?”

“Absolutely n-,” Tony began before Steve cut him off a heartbeat later.

“That could work,” the blonde nodded slowly.  “You’re obviously not trained to go alone but if we sent Nat?  Or Bucky?”

“I’m _not_ sending Bar-,” Tony continued to object, but was ignored by the trio.

“We could both pose as a lawyers,” Bucky suggested with a brief gesture toward Tony.  “He knows Stark has been supporting Izzy for years now.  Of course if she wanted a legal battle, he’d send some powerful attorneys.”

“Chris loves attention,” Isabella nodded excitedly with a grin.  “And he loves making me look like the bad guy.  We show up _unannounced_ , make sure _everyone_ sees us… he’ll _have_ to take us in his office.  It’s all a show to him.”

“First of all, if anyone says anything about me having terrible ideas, I’m immediately bringing _this_ conversation to the table,” Tony finally stood up and pressed his hands onto the table top.  “Second, don’t you think the bank account of Hydra would recognize the famous Winter Soldier and Black Widow?”

“Photostatic Veil,” Steve replied quickly.  “Nat used it during DC.”

“And the metal arm?” Tony challenged incredulously.

“Gloves,” Bucky replied holding the silver hand up.  “It’s the best shot we’ve got to confirm whether or not Chris is backing Hydra in all of this.”

“And the power source?  We’re just going to leave that on the back burner?”

“It’s a difficult place to track down without proper training,” Isabella replied, resting a soothing hand on his and offering a small smile.  “Plus, maybe we can get a hold of their project information?  See what specifically they want with it.”

“I say we wait for Coulson,” Tony voted firmly.  “He might want to secure the power source before we move.”

“There could be more than one,” Bucky chimed in, earning a glare from Isabella.  She’d forgotten that he’d managed to translate the entire booklet.  

“Excuse me?” the question was directed toward Dr. Briggs from Tony.  

“It’s a _hypothesis_ ,” she shot back sharply at the brunette spy.  “But rationally, the thought was ‘why would they only leave one weapon in such an isolated continent?’.  My second in command believed there was one in each major hemisphere, others suggested each landmass.  We never found anything definitive...”

“But…?” Tony quickly picked up on suggestive tone of her statement.  Isabella shook her head and let out a long held sigh.  

“We were only focused on findings in South America,” she confessed.  “Since Inhumans have been found in almost every ethnic group and culture…  It’d be naive to assume there aren’t other sites.  I believe the original SSR had located terrigen crystals in Germany.”

“Isn’t that just wonderful?” Tony huffed, dropping back down in his chair.  “And the only reason we found out about this is because of Chris Briggs.  Alien death machines _under_ the Earth.”

“At least you don’t have to worry about anything _above_ the earth for awhile,” Isabella tried to supply quietly.  

“Then I think it’s clear that we need to get to Briggs and see if we can track down leads,” Steve decided.  “We can vet a team to prepare to help Isabella in Colombia after they infiltrate Chris’ office.”

“Plus, Izzy is going to need a little more time to heal,” Bucky nodded toward the bandaging that still peeked from under the scientist’s shirt.  “A few days can make a hell of a difference in the wild.”

“So, she’s _Izzy_ now, Barnes?” Tony grumbled, glaring at the assassin through his fingers.  “Didn’t realize you’d all gotten chummy.”  Bucky shrugged innocently while Steve took control of the situation once more.

“I’ll prepare a briefing,” he decided.  “We make some calls, wait for Coulson, and then take action.”  He looked at Isabella and Tony.  “Make sure you rest up tonight, I’ll have Nat and Buck stop by your room in the morning for debriefing, before Coulson arrives.”

She gave a curt nod, standing to leave the room.  Pausing to see Tony still sending glares in Bucky’s direction, she nudged his shoulder and parted the room behind the disgruntled genius with a wave to the super soldiers.

In the hall, Tony turned to Isabella and paused.  He took her shoulders, giving them a tight squeeze to better look at her.  

“Are you sure you’re willing to do this?” he asked, scanning her face for any trace of doubt or fear.  “Because you just say the word and I pull the plug.  You’re not obligated to any of this.”

“I think, like it or not, I’ve been apart of this world a while now,” she replied with a half-smile.  “My best friend is Iron Man.  I’m the top of my field in xenoarcheology.  There was bound to be a day our paths would cross.  I just think both of us were too dumb to see it.”

He lowered his brows, examining her from different angles before pulling her to his chest in a tight embrace with a tentative sigh.  

“We are idiots, aren’t we?” he mumbled into her hair, pulling her tighter.  “Smart enough to save the world from terrorists, too dumb to change a light bulb.  Didn’t Pepper tell us that once?”

“ _More_ than once,” Isabella laughed, pulling away.  “You put laundry detergent in the dishwasher at the house in Cabo.”  

“One time,” he argued as they continued walking to the apartments.

“You tried microwaving stovetop popcorn in a metal container,” she continued with a smirk.  

“It didn’t specify,” he shook his head.

_“Oh, it definitely specified..."_

* * *

 


	7. Chapter 7

* * *

“Good morning, _Isabella_ ,” Bucky's voice sang into Isabella’s room just as the sun crept over the horizon.  

The scientist let out a weak groan before throwing her covers down with a huff.  

“I thought Natasha was supposed to be here, too?” She inquired, noting the blue eyed super soldier was alone at the foot of her bed.

“She got caught up in an argument with Clint.  Something about accuracy and knife throwing,” he shrugged.  “I try not to get between two assassins when they’re throwing knives across entire rooms.”

“Smart,” Isabella acknowledged with a tilt of her head, crawling out of bed.  “What’s the ETA on Coulson?”

“A little over an hour,” he replied as Isabella puttered around the room, yawning and stretching her arms.  Wearing just a small tank top, she could soon feel his gaze on her bare back.  When her tired mind finally registered what he was looking at, she felt her cheeks drain of blood.

The long, cruel, red scars still twisted over her shoulder blades and down her torso.  Whirling around and trying to casually throw a towel over her back, she looked up to Bucky.

“I uh- _shower_ ,” she began, but he cleared his throat and cut in.

“Steve and Tony wanted me to walk you through some basic self defense, so you might want to wait on showering,” he explained, quickly backtracking when Isabella just stared at him.  “Not that you _smell_ or anything, it’d just be more efficient- you can shower if you want.  I can leave.  I mean- I _will_ leave.”

“I’ll just throw on some sweats,” she replied slowly, a smirk playing in her face.  She picked through a nearby drawer before tucking the clothes under her arm.  “I’ll be right back.”

He grunted an affirmation as she parted the room into her private bathroom.  Closing the door, she inhaled, realizing she’d been holding her breath during the awkward encounter.  

Throwing the hoodie and yoga pants on the counter, she studied her reflection in the mirror.  Her dark hair had been braided the night before and was still neatly tucked over her shoulder.

She twisted to get a better view of her healing injuries.  The scars around her shoulder blades were almost identical on both sides, indicating where Hydra had inserted large IVs and other sharp objects she couldn’t identify to this day.

Pulling off her sleeping tank top, she ran a few fingers over the healing bruises around her ribs.  Tony and Bruce had helped her pull off the old bandaging around her stab wound the night before, and it was the first time she’d actually seen the line.  

It was smaller than she’d thought.  Not longer than an inch or so, but according to everyone, it had been _deep_.  Her body reminded her of a picasso painting.  The blotches of bruises ended abruptly where a scar began.  They’d been superficial cuts, but Bruce warned her that some might stick around.  

Shrugging on a sports bra, she hissed at the new pressure on her ribs.  Digging through the cabinets, she found an ACE bandage and wrapped the material around the bruising.  Then, she carefully set the bra back over the area.  It’d have to do for today.  

Sliding on a T-shirt and switching her pajama pants for the yoga pants, she threw her hoodie on and smiled in relief that all indications of her pain were hidden from sight.  

“Are you guys going to give me a gun?” She questioned out loud as she parted the bathroom.  “Because Tony tried once and I’m a terrible shot.”

Bucky jumped up from the bed at Isabella’s presence.  He looked like a child who’d been caught breaking a rule, but Isabella couldn’t spot anything out of place.  

“What?” He asked, his icy gaze ignited in focus.  “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.  Briggs will probably have metal detectors all over the place.”

“Lucky for us,” she mused, passing him and patting his left arm gently.  

“You think after decades of assassin work, I wouldn’t know how to trick a metal detector?” He challenged, turning to fully face the archeologist.  

She threw her dirty clothes on her bed and make a face suggesting she didn’t care either way.

“I assume nothing, I guess,” she replied.  

“It’s _really_ interesting, actually,” he continued to explain, following Isabella out of her apartment to the main hallway.  

“Yeah?  How does it work?”

“I just knock out the security guy and kill _everyone_ in sight,” he stated bluntly.  Isabella stopped in her tracks and sent him a look of disbelief.  

“So much for covert,” she sighed, shaking her head and continuing on their walk to the training area.  

“I’m _kidding_ ,” he jogged up next to her.  “I can make jokes sometimes.”

“Definitely a dark sense of humor,” she chided softly.  

“Says the woman cracking jokes through her initial briefing, not even 12 hours after her life-saving surgery,” he countered lightly.  

“I was in _shock_ ,” she held a hand to her head.  “And it’s not like I have horrific nightmares about my screaming friends and colleagues _every night_.”

Bucky didn’t get a chance to respond as Isabella had opened the training room doors and spied Natasha with her thighs tightly wrapped around a struggling Clint Barton’s neck.  

He tapped out and the redhead rolled to the side with a grace Isabella had never seen before.  She and Bucky walked up to the fighting mat where Natasha strolled leisurely toward the scientist.

“ _Dr. Briggs_ ,” Natasha greeted coolly, her hands moved as smoothly as the rest of her.   “It’s a pleasure to finally meet.”  

Isabella shook the woman’s hand and smiled.

“It’s _Isabella_ , Dr. Briggs sounds like a stuffy Georgetown professor,” she joked, earning empty stares from the heroes.  She gave a nervous laugh before turning to the dirty blonde archer. “You must be Clint…”

“Nice recovery,” the archer laughed taking her hand and giving it a firm shake.  “Clint Barton, accuracy expert, the best looking Avenger, and overall amazing guy.”

“Sounds like we might need you, Izzy here is allegedly a terrible aim,” Bucky chuckled, setting a hand on her shoulder.  

“I heard,” Natasha replied, a coy smile on the edge of her mouth.  

“Tony?” Isabella questioned with an apprehensive frown.  

“Who else?  He was _very_ excited to share the story,” The spy stated.  

“Now I _have_ to know,” Clint insisted earning a sharp _‘no’_ from Isabella.  

“What else did we need to cover?” she asked the trio, definitively changing the subject.

“Well-,” Natasha walked up to the scientist and pressed her palm firmly into the other woman’s rib cage.  Isabella dropped to her knees with a yelp.  “We’re going into a dangerous environment while you’re especially _vulnerable_.”

Isabella scowled as Bucky helped her back to her feet.  

“‘ _Hi, nice to meet you, let’s hurt the newbie and go through her things_ ’,” she snorted with a huff toward the trio.

“She found out?” Clint asked Bucky, cringing in sympathy to the spy.

“Steve told her,” Bucky merely replied and Clint gave a knowing nod.  

“The point being,” Natasha continued, her intense gaze sending a chill down Isabella’s spine.  “Ideally, Bucky and I will be with you the entire time.  However, if we get separated for any reason, you need to be able to get out _alive_.  That means fighting through the pain, and disabling any potential threats.”

“The moment any of Briggs’ men know you’re hurt, they’ll use it to their advantage,” Clint added earnestly.  “A second of a distraction could mean life or death.”

Isabella nodded in understanding.  Natasha scanned the woman over before clapping her hands together confidently.

“Then let’s get to work.”

* * *

Every bone in Isabella’s body ached by the time word got to the group that Coulson was waiting in a meeting room.

“You’re not _awful_ ,” Bucky assured her teasingly as Clint and Nat parted the room to change out of their training gear.  He passed her a towel and a bottle of water, which Isabella began to drink greedily.  

“As long as I don’t die,” she huffed, wiping sweat off of her forehead.  “That’s the goal right?”  

“Exactly,” he agreed, offering a hand to pull her from the training mats.  

“You didn’t even break a sweat,” she realized when she landed back on her feet.  “This is adorable to you, isn’t it?”

“A little,” he admitted.  Isabella hit him in the side and sighed when he didn’t even flinch.  

“You know, I always made fun of Tony for taking self defense classes when he had the suit.  Now I know why.  You’re all just muscle.  Pure muscle,” she threw her hands up in frustration, stopping to catch her breath.  

“Take it easy the rest of the day,” Bucky ordered, watching with concern as she hunched over, hugging her sides in pain.  “Hopefully this is the worst of everything and tomorrow goes without a problem.”

“Tomorrow?” Isabella asked with wide eyes at him.  

“Assuming Coulson gives the green light.  We _do_ have to move quickly.”

Isabella knew that _rationally_ , but she thought they’d have a little more time to prepare.  Even with the training that day, she was nervous to even be in the same _room_ as Chris, much less face him head on.  

“It’ll be fine,” Bucky assured her softly.  She stood upright and gave him a strained smile, forcing herself to walk toward the meeting room despite the anxiety and pain mixing in her body.  

* * *

“That’s _something_ ,” Coulson murmured after the team and Isabella explained their situation.  

“I apologize for the smoke and mirrors, Phil,” Isabella repeated for the fourth time in over an hour.  

“No need, I understand,” he waved her words off.  “Given everything that’s happened… I’m relieved you thought of a backup.”

 _That_ had genuinely surprised Isabella, but the mumbles of agreement from the Avengers suggested they all were on the same page as the SHIELD leader.  

“What are the next steps?” Coulson asked, directing the question toward Steve and Tony, where the former picked up explaining the plan for the following day.  

“Dr. Briggs isn’t field trained,” Coulson frowned toward the scientist.  “Couldn’t we have Nat wear a Photostatic Veil and pose as her?”

“Isabella is the only person who’s ever been in Chris Briggs’ office,” Bucky spoke up.  “We considered the possibly but for the sake of speed and discretion, this was the best possible plan.”

“I worked with her this morning and she is more than capable of holding herself until James or myself can get to her,” Natasha added.  “The plan _shouldn’t_ have her alone at any point, but we wanted to make sure every outcome was considered.”

“And, Dr. Briggs, how do you feel about all of this?” Coulson leveled his gaze on the sitting woman.  

“We need to know where Hydra stands and we need to take them down,” she stated.  “I’ve already gotten this far, why not add a trip to the family _skyscraper_?”

“Tony, I’m going to need everything you have on Christopher Briggs,” Coulson turned to the genius.  “Natasha, make sure you do a full assessment of the building before bringing Dr. Briggs in.”

“Roger that,” Tony saluted the agent while Natasha nodded silently.  

After reviewing a few more maps and satellite images of the Colombia site, the group dispersed with Isabella lingering in the hallway, unsure of what else to do.  

“Want Natasha to beat you up again?” Bucky teased from behind Isabella.  

“I don’t, maybe?” She shrugged with a soft chuckle.  “I feel like a writer on a movie set.  There’s nothing to do but wait.”

Bucky considered her words a moment before nodding toward the kitchen.

“How about I make us a couple sandwiches and you can tell me exactly what I should know for tomorrow,” he suggested, earning an uneasy frown from the woman.  

“I thought Tony was covering that?” She asked, following behind the super soldier as he made his way to the center of the compound.  

“He’s still supposed to,” Bucky replied, gesturing for Isabella to take a seat at the kitchen island.  He began pulling ingredients from the cabinets out onto the counter.  “Just figured it’d be better to get the full story from the person who lived it.  Clearly there’s some bad blood between the Briggs siblings.”

“That’s the understatement of the century,” Isabella laughed back bitterly.  “Chris is… things have to be done a certain way for him.  He doesn’t likes challenge.”

“Sounds like a jerk,” Bucky commented, piling a small stack of lunch meat next to a loaf of bread.  “Mustard, Mayo?”

“Both,” she leaned her head into her hands, sighing in defeat.  He’d find out eventually, whether she told him or Tony told him.  “Chris is technically my half-brother.  Our father divorced his mom after meeting mine during a political conference.  They hit it off, got married, and soon enough, I was born.”

“Rye or wheat?”

“Rye.”

“My kind of woman,” Bucky grinned, pulling down the loaf of bread.  “Continue.”

“He and Tony were probably ten or so when I was born,” she explained, trying to remember Chris’ birthday.  “Our father was close with Howard Stark, it was actually Howard who bailed Briggs International out of a bankruptcy in the early sixties. We vacationed together, shared stock, the whole shebang.  As I got older and Chris got meaner, Tony started hanging out with me.  He’d teach me how to take apart radios or take me to the American Girl store when my dad forgot, stuff like that.”

“Turkey?  Ham?”

“All of the above, I’m _starving_ ,” Isabella rubbed her belly for added emphasis.  “And pepper jack cheese!”

“You’re killing me, American cheese is the only way to go,” he complained.  

“Yeah, if you like yellow plastic,” she snorted.  

“Oh I forgot, I’m talking to her royal highness, _Dr. Heiress Princess_ over here,” he continued teasing while cutting the sandwiches in half.  “I’m gathering he’s always been an asshole?”

“He ignored me until I was big enough to understand his hate,” she rolled her eyes.  “He started shoving me around when I was about four.  Kicks here, bruises there, always threatening me if I told my mom or dad.  Then, when I was almost six, Tony sees it and _loses his mind._  Demands to know what happened.  I lie, but he starts asking my nanny and our housekeeper.  Chris finds out and thinks I ratted him out, the next day he pushed me down the stairs,” she lifted her hair near her temple, showing Bucky the long scar that remained from the incident.  

“Of course Chris lied and said I tripped, and I said that too.  But Tony knew better, and he beat the crap out of Chris,” she grinned at the memory.  “Chris just kept getting worse.  He started psychological attacks, scaring me at night, having his friends shove me around at school, and lying to our parents about things.”

Bucky dropped a plate in front of her and took the stool across the island, biting into his sandwich, completely engrossed in the story.  

“My mom died when I was seventeen,” Isabella paused, taking a nibble of her food.  “It was a car accident on the way to picking up my dad and I from the airport.  We’d gone on a college scouting trip for the weekend and I’d insisted she come in person.  Normally we had a driver for that sort of thing, but I’d missed her so much.”

“I’m so sorry,” Bucky frowned over his food, watching her swallow back tears and continue eating her sandwich.  

“Things happen,” she hummed lightly.  “Chris made it seem like it was my fault.  He tormented me, actively paraded his mother around when she picked him up for lunch…  The breaking point was when he implied _he_ had something to do with it.  Like it was my _punishment_ for existing.  When dad eventually got the police report we found out the break lines had been cut.  I stayed with Tony until I started college, only occasionally making appearances with my dad at things.”

“He _murdered_ your mother,” Bucky stated unflinchingly.  “And _mocked_ you for it.”

“It gets better,” she added dryly.  “Dad died when I was in college, just around the time the world was finding out about Tony being Iron Man.  Now mind you, Tony had been missing for months, then he dropped the Iron Man bombshell, _then_ my dad _dies_.  Chris, in his charitable fashion, takes me to court to sue for all of my stakes in the company.  Tony hires lawyers for me, Chris has lawyers, it’s an all out legal nightmare that ends with just enough money for me to get my doctorates and…  that’s about it.  So, one night I realize all of my crap is sitting out on the Brooklyn sidewalks because I’d been evicted, and I grab the essentials and show up in Malibu the next day having spent the last bit of money to my name on a bus ticket.”

“Wow,” Bucky had finished his food and gaped at her.  “Are you sure you don’t want him to disappear under mysterious circumstances?  I still know a few people…”

He reached over and took Isabella’s empty plate, tossing everything into the sink before returning to his seat.  

“You know Sam Wilson?  He was helping me with counseling when I came back to-,” he stopped and began to rephrase.  “Anyway, he told me that the people who have faced the hardest pasts, always have the brightest futures.  Or something like that… I remember it being way more motivational.”

“Gotta reap our fields of sadness to harvest the fruit of happiness,” Isabella replied with a smile. “My mom used to tell me that.”

“My mom would tell me to fix the holes in my sisters’ socks,” he recalled with a smirk.  He stood up and nudged Isabella in the shoulder.  “If everything works out, he’ll get what’s coming to him.  Don’t you worry.”

“I figure he’ll either get arrested for dirty trading or get blown up by aliens,” she reasoned lightly.  “It was a damn shame he was out of town during the attack on the city.”

“And where were you?” Bucky asked, his eyes lighting up as the conversation shifted toward a more lighthearted tone.

“The penthouse at the top of Stark Tower!” She exclaimed laughing.  “Tony told me to stay put while he and his new friends decided to take on an Asgardian god and his alien military!  Here I am, freaking out in my room when I hear _Loki_ in the living room.”

She continued the story before going onto some of the other shenanigans she and Tony had gotten into over the years.  She asked him about Steve, and he’d happily told a few stories from the war and growing up.  

“Get this-,” Bucky was now sitting next to her, his elbows on the table as he held his hands over the side of the counter.  “Steve wasn’t tall enough to ride the cyclone, but we stuffed his shoes so he’d be _taller_.  He was so insistent!  Low and behold, the kid vomits all over himself, me, _both_ our dates, and the back three rows after the _first_ hill.”

Isabella was choking in laughter picturing the tiny image of Steve Rogers from her history textbooks in the situation.  He always looked so serious in the pictures.  Even today, the blonde haired super soldier carried an air of composure with him.

“I end up ditching our dates, I mean, what dame is ever going to call you back after that?  And I drag him back home, covered in vomit, to his mother.  Sarah has a heart attack, and starts lecturing me about Steve’s sensibilities…”

“Really, Buck?” Steve walked into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator to pull out a bottle of water.

“ _Steve-_ ,” Bucky greeted with his classic smirk.  He paused a moment, remembering something and before erupting in laughter.  “Did you know..? Wait, Izzy, you tell him.”  The pair were struggling to keep their composure to tell the blonde haired soldier exactly what Bucky wanted him to know.  

“Tony wore Captain America underpants until he left college,” Isabella snorted out through the gaffs, collapsing into giggles as Steve’s ears lit up red.  “His dad bought them as a _joke_ but he hated doing laundry, so he’d bust them out all the time.”

Bucky was holding his stomach, keeled over the island counter in laughter.  It was cyclical.  Isabella would tell a story, laugh ridiculously, then Bucky would chime in with his own.  By the time Steve had found them, they were essentially laughing at their own laughter.  

Steve watched the pair wipe tears from their eyes, their giggles dying down until all that was left were a few chuckles.  

It was a surprisingly wholesome scene, in Steve’s opinion.  He knew Bucky had been through the ringer over the years and the sight of him laughing hysterically with a woman he’d only recently met, warmed Steve’s heart a little.  

Bit by bit, his friend was returning to him, even if Bucky himself didn’t notice it.  

“No one is allowed to have fun without me,” Tony announced loudly, walking into the room.  

Isabella had taken a sip of water just as he’d walked in and immediately began to choke.  

Through giggles and coughs, Bucky tried hitting her gently in the back until the the water finally came up.  “What’s so funny?”

“Did you really wear Captain America undies in college?” Natasha appeared from the other end of the room and smirked at the genius.  

Immediately Tony’s gaze fell on Isabella.  

“You told them?” He asked in astonishment.  “You promised to your _grave_.  I called you the day they thawed him and made you promise!”

“You made her _promise_?” Steve choked out behind his bottle of water.  

“Does Pepper know?” Natasha questioned, struggling to hold a straight face.  

“Shut up, the point being is that Isabella has now betrayed my trust forever,” Tony shook his head dramatically and made his way to the coffee machine.   “You’re dead to me, Dr. Briggs.”

“I thought-,” Isabella coughed again, a few remaining chuckles in her system.  “We weren’t doing secrets anymore?   _Teamwork_ , that’s what you said Tony.”

“You’re out of the family trust,” he declared without turning.  “Who’s next?  Who has jokes?”

“Were they boxers or briefs?” Clint strolled up next to Natasha with raised brows.

“Izzy, I hate you so much right now,” Tony grumbled as his mug filled.  “ _They were boxers._ ”

“They had little shields all over them,” Isabella added with a sly grin.  “One had a picture of Captain America-.”

“And we’re done!” Tony shouted.

 _“I’ll tell you later,”_ Isabella mouthed to the group with a wink.

She stood up just in time to dodge a plastic cup that skimmed past her face.  

“Wow, I’m just trying to keep you accountable, _Anthony_ ,” she frowned mockingly at her old friend, ducking in an attempt dodge a paper plate he threw like a frisbee.  

Just as she was about to gloat victoriously, it hit her in the side of the face, smearing leftover mustard from hers and Bucky's sandwiches across her cheek.  

“That’s it, I’m telling them about _Cabo_ ,” she threatened with a mischievous grin, wiping the mustard off with the edge of her sleeve.  

“Cap, where’s your shield?  I don’t think I knocked the common sense back into place,” Tony turned to the blonde super soldier who gave a small chuckle.

“Don’t you have things to ticker with?” She shot back.

“One more sass and I’m taking away your Kevlar vest,” he threatened, pointing the spoon he used to stir his coffee.  

“As humorous as this is,” Natasha smirked between the pair before crossing next to Isabella and setting an arm on the scientist’s shoulder.  “I need to give Bucky and Isabella a full briefing on the Briggs building.”

“Party pooper,” Tony shook his head in disappointment, sipping at his mug of coffee.  

Isabella made a teasing face at the genius before following after the two spies who’d made their way toward the exit of the room.  

“It's super weird.  You’re basically clones,” Clint commented once the threesome was out of earshot.  “Steve, I know you joked about it, but it’s something else entirely.  What do you think would happen if they fought?  Would it be perfectly synced?”

“Gotta stop watching the sci-fi movies Barton,” Tony replied with a snort.  “Isabella is way more irritating and self-sacrificing than I am.”

“Says the guy who threw himself through a wormhole,” Steve mumbled under his breath.  

“I heard that,” Tony pointed to Steve accusingly.  

“Surprised she didn’t make a suit out of bones and fossils in the Hydra base,” Clint continued. “Call her Rock Woman or Osteology Lass.”

“That is a worse idea than Isabella suggesting to go into the belly of the beast unarmed,” Tony scoffed.  

“I’m still surprised you gave the go-ahead on all of that,” Clint’s brows shot up in shock.  He exchanged a look with Steve who shrugged.

“I’m not _happy_ about it,” The genius replied tersely.  “If I had a say she’d go in with a rocket launcher attached to her back.  Unfortunately, Natasha has informed me that it would defeat the purpose of a _covert_ operation.”

“What are you planning to do?” Steve inquired, generally interested in what Stark had planned.  

“You’ll see.”

* * *

“ _Absolutely_ _not_ ,” Isabella crossed her arms, gaping at the structure hanging from the ceiling of Tony’s lab.  

Bruce glanced up at the interaction between the pair before smirking to himself and continuing his work quietly.  

“It’s a precaution,” Tony insisted, lifting a piece and holding it up.  “It’s lightweight, easy to slip on under a blazer and dress pants… You won't be able to fly, but it resists gunfire, knives, temperatures up to 500 degrees.,,”

“I am not wearing it,” she repeated firmly.

“Then you’re not going,” he snapped back.  

“ _Bruce_ ,” She whirled around to the doctor for support.  

Banner’s hand immediately went up in an attempt to avoid conflict with the duo.  

“I’m not saying a word,” he replied.  

“Because he agrees with me,” Tony slammed down a screwdriver.  

“I didn’t say that,” Bruce clarified.

“Then you agree it’s too much?” Isabella asked sharply.  

“Never said that either.”

The object in question was a variation of the Iron Man technology.  Tony had taken some of the armor elements, slimmed them down and connected them to a eco skeleton network that Isabella could control in the event of an emergency.  

It was essentially a slimmed down Iron Man suit.

But, it also came complete with a repulsor blaster, just in case.  

“He’ll have metal detectors,” she tried arguing, but Tony held up a hand.  

“ _Buzzzzz_ , _incorrect_ , already covered that with Barnes,” he turned to the brunette woman.  “What other half-assed excuse do you have?”

“I don’t wanna end up as Iron Woman in the news?  Lord knows we already took down the rumors of us dating years ago, do you really want to start that up again?”

“Tony, I need you to sign off on some paperwork from R&D,” a familiar female voiced echoed toward the back of the lab.  The trio of scientists all looked up at Pepper Potts, crossing the room with her attention focused on a tablet in her hand.  

Only when she was inches away from Tony, leaning in for a kiss, did she realize that Isabella and Bruce were present.  

“Oh _hey, Pepper,_ ” Isabella greeted with a laugh at the older woman’s perplexed expression.  

“Izzy!” Pepper shoved the tablet in Tony’s hands before pulling her old friend into a hug.  “You look so much better!  I’m so sorry I didn’t visit while you were up and about.  The Asian market was having issues with the translation of a product…” she began to chat about incompetent translators when Isabella pulled her into another hug.  

“You’re busy running an empire, I completely understand,” she laughed.  

“I’m just glad you’re safe,” the redhead smiled, running a hand through the front of Isabella’s hair, tucking a strand behind her ear.  

“ _Me too_ ,” Tony piped up, passing back the tablet after signing the appropriate lines.  “Which brings me back to our previous conversation, you’re wearing the suit.”

“The what?” Pepper looked at the group for an explanation, her attention falling to Bruce when the two other scientists neglected to reply.  

“I’m staying out of it,” Bruce repeated, poking at an electrical circuit with a small device.  

“He’s trying to make me wear _this_ ,” Isabella hit the chest lining dangling next to her. “For a small outing.”

“Don’t you try and play it off,” Tony wagged his finger before standing in front of her.  “No, she’s trying to steal Hydra secrets from her _brother_ , who might also be the person who ordered to _torture_ her for information.”

“Chris is Hydra?” Pepper blinked at Isabella who sighed dramatically.

“Chris is _probably_ a member of the former nazi science group, yes,” Isabella tried to play it off as if she’d found out he voted for a neglectful politician, as opposed to funding terrorists.  “I’m just _visiting_ him, maybe bringing along some super spies and borrowing some information.”

“It’s a mission with Nat and Barnes, to break into his office, cause a scene and get to his computer,” Tony translated with an eye roll.  “70th floor.  Unarmed and still injured.”

“ _You’re wearing the suit,_ ” Pepper stared directly at Isabella.  

“ _You_ never wear a suit,” Isabella pointed out, sensing that this was a losing battle.

“I also don’t go tormenting Hammer in the middle of his tech department either,” Pepper shot back coolly.  

“Fine!” Isabella threw her hands up in defeat.  “I’ll wear the stupid suit.”

“Make sure you wear that Gucci shirt Pepper got for you, it hides the arc light best,” Tony smirked, ruffling the top of Isabella’s hair as she passed him with a scowl.  “ _I’m sowwy I made wittle Izzy mad.”_

Isabella mumbled something under her breath as she went for the lab door and exited in a huff.  

“What’d she say?” Tony asked his lab partner in amusement.  

“She told you to go to hell,” Bruce replied stoically.

“Sounds about right.”

* * *

 


	8. Chapter 8

* * *

Isabella was scared.  

She had always been the type of person who laughed at monsters and mocked the odds, but she was truly terrified of Chris.

He had a power over her that penetrated under her normally thick skin.  His fake smile was like venom: his empty words like daggers.  

Every time he crossed the room, Isabella felt her mouth go dry, and a lump form in her throat.  She never knew what to expect from her brother.  One minute he might make a joke, the next, he might be throwing an antique vase toward her head.  

Aside from an actual sniper aiming at her, Isabella knew she was well protected.  Bucky and Natasha were cool and collected, asking for signatures on their fake documents and shutting down any insults thrown her way.  

Yet every instinct in Isabella’s body screamed at her to flee.  

Isabella just had to sit quietly, her hands folded in her lap, hoping the sleeve of Tony’s armor wouldn’t d peek out from under her blazer.  

“It’s a shame we have to meet under such-,” Chris paused, thoughtfully turning the page on the lawsuit and glancing up at Isabella.  “ _Disagreeable_ circumstances.  We should do lunch, Izzy.  Catch up.  I heard you were in South America recently…”

He was fishing for information.  An untrained Isabella knew it, Bucky knew it, and Natasha knew it.  

“I’m curious who told you that,” Isabella swallowed, pulling as much confidence from herself as possible.  She tried her best to remain still, forcing her fingertips not to shake or her voice to break.  “I’ve been teaching at NYU all year.”

That was the story they’d prepared for this exact circumstance.  Natasha and Bucky needed to get a read of Chris, and lying was the best way to try to tap where he got his information on the Colombian dig.

“Stark had mentioned-,” Chris began, but Isabella Let out a small laugh.  

“You know he hates you more than I do,” she rolled her eyes, glancing at her “attorneys” as they chuckled quietly.  “He was probably taking you for a ride.  You could have called my cell if you were so _concerned_ about your baby sister.”  

Chris frowned, still standing from pacing the room.  He steadied his gaze on Isabella, trying to read through her lies.Her heart stopped when his identical emerald eyes met hers for an instant.

_Was she believable?_

He’d probably look it up after they left, she mused dryly, maintaining her hardened expression.  Luckily, Natasha and Coulson had taken care of curating a fake alibi at the university for her.  

They were going to try and gaslight the master of gas lighting.  

Bucky cleared his throat at the silent tension, before falling into a fit of coughs.  The Veil he wore made him look like a man in his late forties.  His suit was a little outdated, and he had done his best to hide his stocky frame.  

“Excuse me,” he coughed again before looking up at Chris pleadingly.  “Could I get a glass of water?”

Chris Briggs sighed, pressing the intercom on his desk.  

“ _Moira_?” He questioned into the speaker, yet no response came.  

What Chris didn’t know was that when they initially walked into Chris’ office, Natasha had excused herself to use the restroom and made quick work of the secretary.Moira was drugged and sleeping in an employee common area.  

As fair as Moira was concerned, she’d fallen asleep during her break.  And the security tapes would reflect that fact.

Chris Briggs wouldn’t know what hit him.Tony and Isabella had brought out the big guns. 

Bucky coughed again, more violently has he struggled to find a tissue to cover his mouth.  Profusely apologizing, he reached all over Chris’ desk in search of a box of tissues, “accidentally” knocking files on the floor and into Isabella’s lap.

Chris let out a disapproving grunt, practically throwing the box at her lawyer and ripping the paperwork out of Natasha’s hands.  

“I’ll be right back,” he snapped, turning to leave the office with a huff.  The moment the door clicked shut, Natasha was at the computer.  

“Security has been blacked out,” Bucky mumbled, fidgeting with a small device that Tony had supplied him that morning.  

Natasha didn’t respond, her eyes tracing over the computer screen in front of her.  She plugged in a tiny hard drive, giving a small smile as it blinked green, indicating the hard drive had been duplicated.  

“I hope a bottle of water will suffice,” Chris returned to the room, finding the trio sitting patiently in front of the desk.  Natasha was muttering under her breath to Isabella, pointing out paragraphs in the lawsuit documents as Bucky took the water gratefully.  

“I think we’re just about done here, Mr. Briggs,” Natasha stood up, skimming over the paperwork a final time and forcing a pleasant smile over her features.  “We appreciate your time.  Our office will be in touch with you soon.  Please make sure your attorney reviews the paperwork before tomorrow.”

Chris shook her hand with a tight shake and turned to Isabella.

“It’s a shame we have to keep fighting like this.  Sometimes I wish dad’s will had been a little more specific,” he paused and let out a long sigh, clearly for the dramatics of it all.  “He passed so abruptly… what can you do…” 

His voice trailed off, he and Isabella locking eyes as Bucky and Nat ushered her toward the door.  

She nearly stumbled over herself as she grabbed her coat off of her chair.  Isabella kept watching him like a person would watch a viper in the wild.  She half expected him to jump across the room and attack her.

Instead, his expression remained cool.  It was like she was playing perfectly into some scheme of his, instead of the other way around.  

“ _Breathe_ ,” Natasha gave Isabella’s hand a small squeeze once they were in the elevator.  

They stayed silent the entire way down, assuming the whole building had been bugged.  It wasn’t until they had hit the lobby and started for the doors that the group realized a small flaw in their plan.  

Someone had alerted the press of the Briggs family’s continuing drama.  

In the back of Isabella’s mind, she could almost see Chris smirking back in his office, spinning in his oversized leather chair.

“Shit,” Bucky murmured under his breath.“ _Barton, what the hell_?”

There was silence between the trio as cameras attempted to catch photographs of the disgraced socialite. 

The comm in their ears crackled a moment before Clint’s apologetic voice replied.

“They swarmed,” he explained with a grunt of frustration.“I have eyes on you, but I wouldn’t risk moving the package into that crowd.”

The package being Isabella herself.

“Too many coats and jackets,” Natasha affirmed with a frown. 

“I have the suit on,” the scientist tried to reason quietly, allowing the spies to pull her to a more concealed area of the lobby. 

“Doesn’t help if someone has a sniper on your head,” Bucky replied in a hushed tone, glancing over his shoulder at the clamoring reporters.

“Did no one account for that originally?” Isabella asked incredulously.Panic was mixing with irritation and suddenly Isabella felt herself becoming jumpy.She just wanted to get back into the safety of the bulletproof Towncar outside. 

_“Clint did,”_ Natasha stated firmly.“There’s too many variables now.He can’t track the rooftops if there’s people scrambling around you.”

“I heard the lobby was getting noisy,” Chris appeared around the corner, smiling at the group.“Didn’t realize the press wanted a _family photo_.I wonder who tipped them off?”

“I’m sure it’s such a mystery in a building with hundreds of employees,” Bucky snorted.

Chris narrowed his gaze at the “lawyer”, his brow quirking in amusement.

“Sounds like that cough’s better, eh buddy?” he teased, strolling closer with his hands in his pockets.“You know, there’s a back exit.Just tell your car to pull around and I can show you out.” 

Natasha and Bucky exchanged a look, almost conversing the pros and cons without a single word. 

“That’d be lovely,” Isabella found herself saying before the assassins had a chance to chime in.  There weren't any other options.  Chris had all the cards, and he knew it.

“That’s a very clear trap,” Clint muttered into their ears.Bucky shot Isabella a glare that said he agreed with the archer, but Isabella plastered a smile on her face and allowed Chris to through an arm over her shoulders. 

The half-siblings led the way with Nat and Bucky shortly behind. 

Chris waved and greeted random employees as they passed by or stopped to gawk at the foreign sight of the Briggs siblings together.Eventually they reached a long winding hallway at the side of the building. 

“Dad had it constructed to hide more influential guests who might not want to be seen meeting with a weapons manufacturer,” Chris explained, waving his hand casually and pulling his arm away from Isabella. 

The hallway lit itself automatically as they walked. 

“I can’t see you,” Clint warned in a low voice. 

“No windows,” Bucky murmured low enough for the comm to catch it, but for Chris not to hear. 

“Try not to get killed, mmkay?” Clint warned lightly. 

Isabella was on autopilot as they walked.Every part of her body was screaming warnings.Her adrenaline was fully pumping through her and all of her hairs were standing on edge. 

“Did you see Michelle and I’s vacation photos on Facebook?” Chris asked, breaking the ice wall that Isabella willed between between them.She just wanted to get home. 

“No,” she managed to reply, the fake smile spreading across her features once more.“How are the kids?”

“Emma is your typical teenager,” he replied, reaching for his phone in his breast pocket.“Ian is starting fifth grade this year.They grow up _so_ _fast_.” 

Isabella could feel Bucky and Nat’s eyes boring into their backs, watching every movement that she and Chris made as they walked.He tapped on the screen with his thumb and held up the device to Isabella. 

Trying to maintain civility, Isabella glanced at the glowing device and immediately flushed. 

**Give me the hard drive or none of you see daylight again.**

_She needed a plan.She needed a plan._

Her mind threw out a few reasonable options varying from signaling Nat and Bucky to just outright denying the request. 

But in that moment, Isabella was a dangerous mix of panic, fear, aggression, and a bit of stupid courage.

_It_ happened without a second thought. 

She let out a surprised shout, swatting the phone out of Chris’ hand and sprinting as fast as she could down the hall, praying that Bucky and Natasha had her back.

“What the hell was _that_?” Clint demanded over the comm.

“Izzy panicked,” Bucky grunted, his breath picking up in time with the footfalls behind Isabella.

“Briggs has a weapon,” Natasha muttered, the distinct sound of gunfire echoing through the chamber.  

“Izzy, _keep moving_ ,” Bucky grunted.“Clint wrap around the building…”

Isabella didn’t even process the words in her ear.She just knew that she had to follow the hallway and she’d find safety. 

“ _Awww, shit_ ,” Clint’s voice caught her attention just as Isabella approached a large metal door.“Guys.It’s a trap.”

“I’m getting that,” Nat replied.“We’re ditching the Veils.Chris has been engaged and disarmed.Isabella, status?”

Isabella’s voice wouldn’t come.She held a shaking hand to the door, hesitating to move through it, but declining to reply to Natasha. 

They were going to get killed because of her stupid idea.She ran like a coward and now they were going to be hurt. 

Vaguely, she heard her name being repeated, but it was drowned out by the thumping sound of her pulse in her ears. 

A hand touched her shoulder and Isabella whipped around, her hand clenched in a fist and swinging.

Fortunately, Bucky caught her wrist before she could do any damage and he took one look at her with a sigh, pulling her through the metal door and shielding her with his body.

“About time,” Clint complained, huffing as he kicked a suited security agent to the ground. 

“Get Izzy to the car,” Bucky ordered, passing the empty-eyed archeologist to the Avenger and slamming a nearby agent to the wall.“Then get her out of here.We’ll meet at the back-up point. _Go_!”

Clint picked up where Bucky left off, pulling Izzy out of the room toward a second hallway.

“I had Happy swing around,” he explained over his shoulder as they ran.Isabella didn’t reply, her mind fixated on the image of Bucky surrounded by the armed guards.

Clint pushed through another large door and the pair was suddenly immersed in sunlight.He knelt down, pulling Isabella with him, covering her from any potential shooters in the surrounding area. 

Just as he stepped forward to open the car door, a shot rang out, and Isabella felt a sharp pressure in her stomach. 

“Get in!” Clint shouted, shoving her into the back seat and firing off and arrow over his shoulder, jumping in behind her.“Happy, go, now!”

“What happened?” Bucky’s voice demanded through the comms.Isabella gaped at the large hole in her shirt that Clint was ripping open to examine. 

The suit Tony forced her to wear had taken the brunt of the shot.Isabella was completely unharmed.

“We’re _fine_ ,” Clint reported back to the spies.Isabella finally felt her shoulders relax and she sank back into the leather seat, grabbing her earpiece and throwing it on the floor of the car.She closed her eyes and rested her hands over her stomach, her finger tracing the casing of the bullet trapped in the suit.

She didn’t realize that she’d been crying until Clint murmured something about shock and passed her a handkerchief from a flustered Happy.

Everything was a daze.They returned to the compound in decent time, with Isabella remaining completely silent the whole ride. 

The moment the car stopped, she charged out, ignoring Tony’s questions and going straight for her room.It took more willpower than Isabella would have liked to admit to keep a semblance of calm, yet the moment her door closed she collapsed and let out a long held sob.

At some point between hiccups and choked tears, she instructed FRIDAY to lockdown her room and she stumbled into the bathroom, peeling off her clothes as she went. 

When she was naked and a line of clothes were behind her, she started her shower and crawled onto the floor, closing her eyes and letting the scalding hot water lick her skin.

Another round of sobs wracked her body, and she clutched her knees to her chest, unable to process any rational reason for such a dramatic and painful reaction. 

She felt humiliated.She felt guilty.She felt scared. 

The unfortunate reality was that the shower just wasn’t loud enough to block out the invasive voices that crept into her mind as her tears settled. 

A familiar snarl warned her that everyone she loved would be killed.

Her body felt like it was being pumped full of fire again, and she let out another whimper when the small bruise on her stomach mimicked the icy sharp pain of the unnamed Hydra scientist’s knife for an instant.

Tony overrode FRIDAY’s protocols after two hours of no contact from Isabella. 

Walking into her room, he found her curled on her mattress in a bathrobe, soaking wet and shivering. 

He didn’t say a word as he lifted the violet comforter she was laying on, and tucked her under its warmth.Crawling into the bed next to her, he pulled her under his arm and began to run a soothing hand through her hair.She snuggled closer to him, resting her head on his chest and shaking as another round of crying overtook her. 

Tony sat with her, occasionally murmuring comforting words, until she slipped into a fitful sleep

He slid out of the bed and turned, tucking her into the blankets and adjusting her pillows.With a last glance in her direction, he parted the room silently.

“How is she?” Bucky’s voice pulled Tony from his trance after the door clicked shut. 

“Sleeping,” Tony replied, picking at his cuticles anxiously.He had no idea how to move forward with Isabella.Like him, she’d deny the problem until it exploded in her face.Today was lucky in that she’d been well protected between his tech and the team.Moving forward, however, she’d need to keep her focus. 

This wasn’t a challenging Aztec temple or a fussy government agency that wouldn’t let her dig. 

This was her _mind_ and what Hydra had done to her. 

He knew it’d pop up eventually; he’d just selfishly hoped that they could have gotten through the drama with the Kree artifacts first. 

Bucky lingered uncomfortably around Tony as the billionaire hesitated on where he wanted to go next.He wasn’t in the mood to be social, but he knew the full briefing of the situation would be available now, and he wanted to see what went wrong.Who messed up. 

“We should have moved through the crowd,” Bucky finally spoke up, breaking the tense air between the men. 

Tony felt his lips form a thin line at the confession.He knew that Bucky wasn’t the sole blame.There were mitigating factors that even he wouldn’t have been able to predict.Tony was upset.He just wanted this to be black and white.He wanted to fix Isabella and the problems that haunted her mind. 

“Who would have thought the psychopath of a brother would have tried to kill his sister in a crazy manipulative way?” Tony snapped sharply.He turned on his heel and started down the corridor toward the lab.He needed to move his hands before he lost his mind.

“It was a bad call,” Bucky agreed softly.“I had no intention of allowing Isabella to be exposed to harm.”

Tony scoffed at the statement.Of course he didn’t.Bucky never had any intention of ever screwing anything up, yet here they stood. 

“She told you about him, right?The shit this guy has _done_?I should have known years ago that there was more than just some shady dealings,” he said picking up his pace.Bucky strolled next to him, barely adjusting his speed to keep up with the genius.“We’re all we have for each other, Barnes.My parents died, but Izzy was there.Her mom gets murdered by that monster and I was there for her.She helped me through so much more than any of you could know.I would kill for that girl.”

The rant had turned into a sentimental ramble.He met the super-soldier’s eye line. 

“You keep blaming yourself for things outside of your control,” Bucky stated slowly, setting a hand on Tony’s shoulder and pulling him to a stop.“Briggs is a mess on his own.He’s going to bring chaos whether you’re there or not.Hydra or not.You can’t stop a runaway train, you can only hope to help when it finally stops.”

Tony shook his head sharply at his teammate’s words.

“No…” he muttered, holding a hand to his chin in thought.“I can stop the train if I plan ahead.There’s always an emergency brake that can be pulled.”

With that, Tony parted the hallway and unlocked the door to the lab, securing it for privacy as he passed through the doorway. 

There were always solutions, even when they were seemingly “no win” situations. 

He’d take out Chris.He’d take down Hydra. 

He’d protect Izzy and Pepper and Happy and Rhodey and his friends.

His family.

* * *

 


	9. Chapter 9

* * *

 

_“You’re on the bench.”_

That’s what Tony had told Isabella the next morning.

She wasn’t allowed to accompany them to Colombia, or assist in the retrieval of the power source.Essentially, she was on lockdown in the compound until she could get her head together. 

The team assembled clarified a few details with the archeologist before she was excused from the meeting room, with Coulson locking the door behind her. 

She’d never felt so sick in her life.This was exactly the scenario she wanted to avoid.What if Tony got hurt doing the job she was supposed to do?Or Coulson?Or any of the others? 

Isabella didn’t know what to do now that she was pending a psychological evaluation and basically sitting on her ass while her superhero best friend did all the work for her, _again_.

The majority of the morning after Tony’s bad news, Isabella spent sulking in her room.She read a short novel Wanda had lent her, and eventually ventured out when her stomach began to grumble. 

The community kitchen was only a few feet away from her room, so Isabella tried to slip in without being noticed.She didn’t want to deal with any sympathetic nonsense, especially from Bucky or Clint.She was already frustrated that Tony had seen her crying the day before, she didn’t need anything else to trigger more water works. 

To her relief, the kitchen was empty, and she opened the fridge to scan for a snack.Spying some leftovers from Sam’s dinner the night before, she grabbed a plastic wrapped plate of chicken and moved to put it in microwave.

“Sam gets touchy about his leftovers.”

Isabella let out a startled shout, dropping the ceramic plate on the kitchen’s hard tile floor.Throwing her head in the direction of the words, she glared at Bucky who jumped toward the mess to help her pick it up.

“ _Shit_ , I’m sorry,” he apologized, picking up the cold chicken breast and setting it on the counter while she picked at the plate pieces with her fingertips. 

“I’m going to start setting up those beeping chimes they have on the doors at 7-11,” she muttered under her breath.“Steve nearly gave me a heart attack when he came into the meeting this morning.”

Focusing on the broken plate slivers, she hissed under her breath when a sharp edge cut into her finger, spilling a little blood on the floor.It splattered across, dripping a few more times while Isabella stared at the small cut, transfixed at the crimson liquid that dribbled down her hand. 

Bucky quickly grabbed a napkin and wrapped it around her finger, tucking it tightly around the wound.

“Here, I’ll finish cleaning up,” he offered, but her eyes had lost focus and she shifted from the balls of her feet to sitting fully on the ground, her hand absently holding the napkin in place.Bucky wiped the blood up and threw the paper towel away before dropping down next to Isabella.He decided to disregard the broke plate for the time being. 

“ _Hey_ ,” he spoke softly.“Where are you?Come back.” 

She raised her eyes to acknowledge him, her hands now shaking as the blood from her cut saturated the napkin.He grabbed another napkin on the counter above them, and reached for her hand, but the moment they made contact, she flinched back. 

“Izzy, it’s me,” Bucky recognized the flash of fear that shot through her.He’d been there before.He’d experienced the fog of terror that she was experiencing.

She blinked at him a moment, her grip tightening around the soaked napkin, covering her palm in red.Looking at her finger, she frowned and ran a hand down her face, shaking her head. 

“I’m losing my mind,” she murmured, allowing Bucky access to clean her cut with careful movements. 

“You’re not crazier than the rest of us,” he reasoned with a hum, throwing the dirty napkins away and shrugging. 

“That’s reassuring coming from the _brainwashed murder-bot_ ,” she sighed, setting her head back against the counter. 

“Ouch,” Bucky placed a hand over his heart, pulling a hurt expression. 

“Tony said I have to stay behind,” she muttered, changing the subject.“Said something about triggers and me losing my focus.”

Bucky nodded, leaning back next to her. 

“I heard,” he replied.“If it’s any consolation, Steve and I have to stay behind as well.”

That caught Isabella’s attention.She perked up, raising her brows in surprise. 

“Really?Why is that?” She asked.

Bucky paused and Isabella could see one of his smirks lingering under the surface. 

“We, uh, have instructions to keep an eye on the compound,” he murmured, running a hand through his hair and avoiding eye contact. 

“Tony doesn’t want me sneaking after them,” she realized out loud, scowling at the former asset.

Bucky chuckled, the grin breaking through. 

“Something like that,” he confirmed.“And I don’t blame him.You seem like the _sneaky_ type.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” She questioned, narrowing her eyes at him.

“I’m just saying, you hid out across the world for a few years and come back with research that puts the entire planets safety into question,” he shrugged again.“Kind of sneaky.I bet stowing away on a quintet isn’t that much more difficult for you.”

“You forgot about my bruised rib,” she tried, sending her own smirk in his direction. 

“I did _not_ forget about your bruised rib,” he countered, moving to stand up and offering her a hand to help her to her feet.“That’s why there’s only one super soldier here instead of two.”

She took his hand and let him pull her to her feet in a single movement.Folding her arms across her chest, she eyed him over. 

“I think I can take you,” she declared. 

“In your dreams, darling,” he reached to pick up the remaining pieces of trash off the floor, tossing everything in the nearby bin.

“You _wish_.”

“I wish, what?” He arched his brow at her, amusement on his features. 

“I _dreamed_ about you,” She retorted with a snort, returning to the fridge in search of a new source of food. 

“The devastating good looks don’t already help?” He asked, leaning his shoulder on the fridge and trailing her with his blue gaze. 

“I prefer blondes,” she mocked, grabbing a cup of pudding and an apple from the shelf. 

“I’ll give Stevie your number then,” he replied, closing the door after her.He followed her to the table and leaned in.“He could use a date with a _charming_ gal such as yourself.”

“I had a mental breakdown in the middle of a mission and you’re trying to set me up on a date?” She inquired, biting a chunk out of her fruit.“That’s _hilarious_.”

“You don’t want to date Captain America?”

“Not that,” she waved him off.“It’s hilarious that you think I’m _charming_.”

“You’re a punk,” he swiped the pudding cup from under her and peeled the lid back, digging through a nearby drawer for a spoon. 

“I can’t believe you just did that,” she threw her hands up in frustration.“You can’t do that to me right now!”

“And why’s that?” He asked, a mouthful of pudding. 

“Because I’m emotionally distressed,” Isabella took another bite.“That’s completely rude.That was supposed to be my comfort food.”

“You can go sulk about it when we’re done.”

“ _Ouch_.”

“Thats for calling me a _brainwashed murder-bot_ ,” he plopped the empty plastic cup into the trash with a smirk. 

“I probably deserved that,” she agreed, finishing her apple and frowning. 

“You really like blondes, huh?What about blue eyes?You gotta be falling for the baby blues,” he leaned back on the table.Isabella tossed her apple core at his chest and stood up. 

“Thats for calling me _sneaky_ ,” she smirked.“If you need me, I’ll be in my room.”

* * *

“You’re mad at me, aren’t you?” Tony walked into Isabella’s room without knocking, poking at his tablet, and glancing up at his friend. 

“What?” Isabella was chewing on a piece of celery, mid-climax scene in one of Wanda’s romance novels, her face flushed and her cheeks slowly rising into a red color.“Oh, yeah.Super mad. _Oh no…_ ” 

She quickly shuffled the book away and cleared her throat. 

“Didn’t realize you were into that kind of trash,” Tony smirked.“I know the author.If you think her books are wild you should have seen-”

“What do you want?” she questioned sharply, groaning at the mental image. 

“I need some clarification on a few things before we leave tonight,” he passed her the tablet, turning to fidget with a collection of relics Coulson had given her, waiting for her to catch up.

“Oh, clarification that I’d be able to provide more easily if I actually was able to come?” she asked, poking at a mission briefing and studying the coordinate points.“This all looks accurate as far as I know.Coulson has the full rundown of the specific cave, and if I recall the pictures from the meeting… You guys are going to be _fine_.”

He hummed in response, turning around quickly and scooping the tablet up. 

“Nat told me that she found a good therapist for you,” he commented, tucking the device behind his back, rolling back and forth on the heels of his toes.“FRIDAY will update your phone when the meeting is set, so don’t forget to keep an eye out for that.”

“You can remind me when you get back,” she waved his concern off.“It’s not like you’re going to be gone longer than a day or so…” 

Tony looked away, guilt smothering his features. 

“How long?” she sat up straighter in bed.“Tony.How long?”

“Couple weeks, _tops_ ,” he replied quietly.“I’m leaving your favorite super soldiers behind, so you shouldn’t get bored.And Wanda offered her entire book collection for you to read.”

“So, I just sit around, while you do _all_ my life’s work, and I what-?Read trashy smut novels?” she stood up from the bed, shaking her head angrily.“You’re kidding, right?You have to be kidding.This is insane.”

“If Chris had his way, you would have been killed,” he reminded her. 

“If have the terrorist organizations on this planet had their way, you’d be dead,” she hit back, crossing her arms and staring him down.“This isn’t about a target on my back.”

He fumbled through words before letting out a long sigh. 

“SHIELD caught a few hits underground of your name,” he finally admitted.“The compound isn’t exactly inconspicuous, but it’s secure.And if Steve and Barnes are here, you won’t get hurt.”

“If I was in the field you’d be able to protect me just fine,” Isabella frowned at his logic. 

“In a firefight around ancient Kree weapons, there are going to be other priorities for me to protect as well,” he murmured.“ _One_ stray bullet and that’s it.Please, Izzy, don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be…”

“Me?Make things difficult? _Never_.” 

“This is the safest place for you to be right now,” Tony stepped forward and pulled her into tight hug, that Isabella begrudgingly allowed. 

She pressed her forehead against his chest, groaning in irritation, knowing full well that he was being perfectly reasonable.“I _know_.It’s not fun.But it’s all temporary.You’ll be back in the field in no time and I’ll ignore all your video calls while you shoot all my phone calls to voicemail.It’ll be great.”

“When did you become so rational?” she asked, pulling away and laughing.It amazed her how much he’d matured in recent years.He was still passionate, like fire, but instead of an inferno; he was a warm blaze.A fire on a winter night. 

Isabella had traditionally thought of herself as a protector, watching out for him and making sure he got through each day in a single piece… yet, since she’d returned to the States their roles had reversed. 

“I don’t know how rational I’m going to be if I come across the people who hurt you,” he replied, his hand tracing over one of the scars on her forearm.“Lay low.For me, and I’ll bring you back a whole truckload of artifacts to document.Deal?”

“ _Deal_ ,” she poked him in the shoulder before pulling him into another hug.“And _please_ don’t get yourself killed.”

“I’m bringing sorcerers, androids, and witches with me,” he smirked.“You’re the one getting stuck with the hundred-year-old super soldiers.” 

“I hate you.”

“I _know_.”

* * *

Tony and his team left a few hours later.Pepper had arrived to wish him well, giving him a chaste kiss and promising a pleasant homecoming when he returned, to which Tony visually beamed.

The remaining Avengers stood with Isabella and Pepper as the Quinjet pulled away from the hanger and soon disappeared into the night sky.After the mission team was enroute, they dispersed, with Steve letting Isabella know his location for the night and Pepper kissing her cheek goodnight to leave for the city.

It was unnervingly quiet without the majority of the team present.Sam was busy that weekend with VA hospital duties, and the remainder of the team who Isabella had met, went with Tony.

He’d decided to take Wanda, Strange, Vision, Coulson, Clint, Nat, and a few Kree trained SHIELD agents on his mission to secure the Kree power source.It was the strongest group Isabella had ever seen to tackle an _archeology_ project.Fortunately, they were taking it seriously and still were holding discussions up to, and during, the Quinjet’s take off 

When Strange had arrived earlier that evening, he’d sat down with Isabella and Coulson to discuss his own research into the subject.The trio came up with a few theories as to what the power source was, and discussed disposal options.After their discussion, Isabella felt significantly more at ease with what they were trying to do. 

Strange supported the idea that the alien race had set up multiple outposts around the world, and through his research and Coulson’s personal connection with the Inhumans and Kree, they had a decent idea of where to begin their search. 

Tony promised to check in frequently, and now Isabella stood alone in the jet hanger, waiting for the first check-in that was due in eight hours. 

“It’s still pretty early,” Bucky voiced, breaking the silence that Isabella had comfortably slipped into.“When’s the last time you went outside?” 

She turned over her shoulder, shrugging and laughing nervously.

“Oh wow,” she paused in thought.“The meeting with Chris two days ago?And before that… a _while_.”

He nodded knowingly, that smirk tugging at his lip’s edges. 

“Let’s go for a short walk, enjoy the last bit of this summer weather,” he suggested with a nod toward the door. 

She agreed enthusiastically, pulling her zippered sweater shut and following after him with a skip in her step. 

Isabella had been feeling, admittedly, a bit out of her mind.She was getting jumpy and stagnant, only being able to venture outside of the compound with an escort.And given the mission prep involving everyone, she’d essentially been on house arrest after the ordeal with Chris. 

The fresh air felt amazing.Since it was still August, it was warm, but the brisk feeling of autumn swirled within the humidity.The area outside the compound was silent. 

As they walked, they’d come across a few stray Stark employees or remaining SHIELD agents, decompressing before the big mission got underway, but everyone regarded one another with a silent nod of the head or a small wave. 

It was ridiculously peaceful, and everything Isabella needed.

“Do you know any constellations?” she inquired as they made their way toward a paved path through the surrounding woods. 

“A few,” he nodded, looking up at the clear night sky.“That’s Orions belts… that’s the big dipper… that’s Neverland… and I think Oz is somewhere over there…”

“Wow, I didn’t realize they were _entire_ constellations,” she gave a teasing gasp of awe.“Is that one Asgard?”

“Mhm, next to Saint Nicholas and Cleopatra,” he pointed to a few stray stars near the horizon. 

“Now you’re just making things up,” she playfully pinched his arm, walking a little faster to avoid any retaliation. 

“Hey! _You_ asked!” he shouted after her, allowing her to fall into a jog and hide behind a nearby tree, laughing. 

“You could have said you only know the dippers!” she grinned, ducking under a branch as he rounded the tree trunk from behind. 

“And look dumb in front of you?Not _likely_ ,” he retorted, sneaking through an overgrown bush and catching her around the waist.She let out a surprised squeal, letting him give her a spin in the air, before catching her balance and giggling between choked breaths. 

“I mean, I’d only tease you a _little_ about it,” Isabella pulled away, leaning down on her knees to catch her breath.Her ribs ached from the sudden burst of activity. 

“Everything ok?” Bucky’s expression immediately shifted to concern, but she stood back up, shrugging him off.

“I keep forgetting that human bodies actually take _time_ to heal,” she replied bitterly. 

“You’re getting there,” Bucky assured her softly.“Should we head back?” 

Isabella let out a disappointed sigh at the suggestion.

“No, let’s stay out here _forever_ ,” she suggested, dropping down to sit on an overturned log, her eyes going up toward the sky once more.“It’s just so perfect out, and I can pretend my best friend isn’t about to fight my worst nightmare.” 

Bucky wordlessly sat down next to her and stared upwards, studying the glowing orbs with her in a comfortable quiet beneath the clear, starry night.

* * *

Chris slammed his phone down, wincing, as the action rattled the bullet wound in his shoulder.

No one had been able to give a definitive read of Isabella’s location in the last 48 hours.

One agent swore she was at the Avengers compound, another saw her in Rio, and a third vowed she was with Stark in a jet destined for Colombia. 

He’d made a promise to one of his benefactors to locate and return the archeologist to Hydra, as she was the key to fully understanding the extent of the weapons they’d uncovered. 

Chris knew better than to assume she’d come of her own volition, but because he didn’t have a full read on Stark or the other Avengers, he couldn’t move his pawns into place to force her into his hands.

“Moira, get Dr. Kuhn on the line,” he ordered, pressing into his intercom and pacing as the phone rang out the speaker.

“Mr. Briggs, it’s certainly been some time,” the scientist’s voice was cool as he spoke.

“I’m still working on acquiring my sister,” Chris explained.“She’s gone off the radar completely.”

“After your little show, I’m not surprised,” he chuckled.“She has more spirit than you give her credit for and it reflects in her ability to survive.”

“Even a cockroach can be killed,” Chris hissed in frustration, trying to readjust the sling on his arm. 

“Yet they survive nuclear war,” Kuhn tutted under his breath.“Perhaps instead of assembling a warhead, you buy a new set of _boots_.If our arrangement is to continue, I need the correct translation of the ancient Kree relics and the location of their energy source.”

“I have confirmation that the Avengers have mobilized,” Chris informed him.“Rumor is they’re headed for Colombia.”

“Don’t patronize me with this old news,” Kuhn snapped sharply.“Focus on your target and I will deal with the Avengers.”

The line clicked off and Chris stared at the telephone on his desk. 

Letting out a snarl, he used his good hand to send the device flying across the room. 

“Moira!” he shouted toward his office door, the small secretary peering in meekly. 

“Yes, sir?” she asked quietly, ignoring the shattered phone in the corner.

“Call him in,” he ordered in a hiss. 

“Sir?” the secretary’s voice wavered in uncertainty. 

_“Do it.”_

* * *

_Fire_.

Isabella was standing in a room filled with smoke and fire. 

Every door or window she approached, was too hot to escape. 

She screamed for help.

The flames climbed higher in the room, wrapping their tendrils around framed pictures and leather-bound books. 

She was in Howard Stark’s study.The mansion was burning to the ground. 

Where was Tony? 

Smoke clouded her head and she dropped to the floor, shouting out the names of the Stark family and choking on the cinders that burned around her. 

Just as she was about to give up hope, a familiar voice called her name. 

A door she hadn’t noticed was open, with Bucky standing in the doorway, pointing down a cleared path through the fire.He was shouting instructions to her, but she couldn’t understand.

Isabella tried to get up from the floor, but something kept dragging her back.  

Desperately looking over her shoulder, a monster clawed at her legs, pulling her further and further away from her savior.The roar of the flames morphed into the antagonizing screams of Pepper and Tony, begging for help. 

Watching the flames wrap around her, a voice whispered that this was all her fault. 

“ _Izzy.”_

The archeologist shot up, gasping for clean air, her hand immediately clutching her chest.

“Hey, you’re safe,” Bucky’s form reached for her knee, squeezing it gently to assure her that her surrounding were real.“You were dreaming.It was just a _dream_.”

“There.. _fire_ …” she wheezed.She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to control her heart rate that was spiraling out of control.Something was burning in her chest and she wanted to vomit. 

“You're burning up,” Bucky murmured, reaching his flesh hand to her sweat covered forehead.

“It was so _real_ ,” her voice broke as she spoke.Bucky stood up and crossed her room to the bathroom.He returned with a glass of water that he set aside while Isabella studied her hands to ensure she had actually returned to reality.“The screams… They wouldn’t stop.”

He tenderly lifted her wrist as she spoke, occasionally humming in acknowledgement while he checked her pulse.

FRIDAY had alerted him while he slept, that Isabella’s vitals were abnormally out of control.She had been thrashing and screaming when he finally got into her room.It took him a bit of time to pull her out of the nightmare, and even then, her vitals were still off the charts. 

“Hey Izzy, I need you take a slow breath,” he ordered firmly.“Nice and slow, can ya do that for me?”

“You were there,” she whispered, her emerald eyes locking into his.The confidence she normally radiated was nonexistent.All Bucky could see was fear.Soul consuming fear. 

“So you _do_ dream about me,” he teased absently, rechecking her pulse.It was finally slowing down and her skin was cooling in tandem. 

Isabella didn’t say a word.Perhaps she was too exhausted for a comeback, or she needed comfort.She simply leaned forward, her wrist still in Bucky’s hand, and pressed her forehead into his chest. 

Bucky felt his breath hitch at the movement.He wasn’t sure how he knew, but his subconscious told him to wrap his arms around her frame.He repositioned himself onto her bed and covered her head and shoulders with his arms. 

“You’re safe,” he mumbled into her hair.He closed his eyes.Mentally, he tried to will away the demons that haunted the woman’s mind.Without the research distracting her, things were coming back to her.

He knew how hard it was to shake the horrors of what Hydra could do.She’d done such a good job of concealing it all, of locking down her emotions and focusing on her tasks at hand.There was no question that Isabella Briggs was a master compartmentalizer, she’d clearly learned from the master himself to suppress any hints of weakness. 

But Tony wasn’t there and he’d thrown himself into the middle of Isabella’s mental torment. 

She had no one to keep a smile for, and no way to distract herself.No wonder all of this was hitting so hard. 

Isabella’s breathing steadied into his chest, her hands clutched around the fabric of his shirt as she fell into a fitful sleep. 

On top of it all, Bucky knew that Bruce and Strange still weren’t decisive on what the different chemical tests revealed about her abuse.The abnormalities only popped up from time to time, but Bucky knew that anyone else would have gone into cardiac arrest if they sustained the pulse he measured on her moments before. 

If he was being honest with himself, she irritated the hell out of him, but he was scared for her.He was scared she’d see the see hollow shell he’d seen for so many years after Hydra and Wakanda.He was scared the wonder and light would leave those gorgeous green eyes. 

He pulled the comforter over her shoulders, smiling when she snuggled closer and sighed in a contentment at the change. 

Bucky knew he would be the best person to help her through _this_.The day to day functioning would be worked on by the therapist, but he knew that the nightmares and the fear wouldn’t go away by simply talking through memories. 

Just before he fell asleep, Bucky promised himself that he’d see this frustrating, reckless, woman through her horrors to the light at the end. 

 


	10. Chapter 10

**2008**

“He, what?” Isabella looked between Pepper and Rhodey, her hands beginning to shake.Her body seemed to have registered the news faster than her heart or head. 

“He’s missing,” Rhodey repeated slowly.“There was an ambush…” 

The Airman looked exhausted, like he hadn’t slept since the ambush.Perhaps he hadn’t.

Isabella shook her head in disbelief. 

“No,” she stated, her hands shaking at her sides.“Tony Stark doesn’t just _disappear_.Misplaced…? _Maybe_.”

“Izzy-,” Pepper began, but Isabella kept shaking her head. 

“Pepper, you know him as well as I do,” she reasoned, her voice crackling as the hysterics began to pump up.“Rhodey… come on… he’s not… he would send…”

The realization hit her fast and nearly knocked the wind out of her. 

“He’d send a distress signal,” Rhodey finished for her.“Izzy, you should sit.I want you and Pepper to know that we’re doing everything we can to find him.There’s a million scenarios at play.”

“He could be _dead_ ,” Isabella vocalized the thought, her eyes distant as Pepper broke into tears and wrapped her arms around the brunette girl.“He could be dead.” 

The nineteen year old kept repeating it, over and over. 

Pepper suggested that the two of them spend the night at Tony’s Malibu mansion, just in case Rhodey or someone had updates about the case.

“They’d be able to find us in the same place,” Pepper reasoned, forcing a smile for her younger companion.In honesty, Pepper was concerned about Isabella’s response.The kid, despite a billionaire heiress, didn’t have much in terms of emotional support. 

She had Tony, Rhodey, Happy, and _her_.So, Pepper handled the situation exactly as she’d handle Tony, if the two had reversed roles and Isabella was missing.

She did her best to distract the young woman, putting on movies and splitting a bottle of wine between them. 

Occasionally, Isabella fell into the distraction, but immediately one of them would mention Tony and she’d fall silent.By the time darkness fell that first evening, Isabella was bundled under a blanket on the sofa while Pepper ordered pizza. 

“They’ll be here in twenty minutes,” the redhead announced with as much excitement as she could muster.She dropped down next to Isabella and pulled a nearby pillow into her lap, clutching onto it anxiously. 

“You’re better much better at hiding it,” Isabella commented offhand.Pepper perked up at the statement, glancing over in confusion.

“Hiding what?” she questioned. 

Isabella put down her smartphone and looked over at Pepper lazily.Though Pepper hadn’t heard it, it looked like the nineteen year old had been crying at some point in the night. 

“The fact you probably feel like vomiting and dying at the same time,” she pointed out quietly. 

Pepper fell silent at the observation, pulling her pillow a little closer.She’d be heartless if she didn’t confess that losing Tony would be an utter devastation.There was a reason she’d stuck around for so many years, and it wasn’t because she enjoyed picking up his dry cleaning. 

She knew he needed stability in his life.He needed a calming presence, someone who could tell him no and not allow them to be talked out of it.

She also loved him.So, there was _that,_ too.

A fact that everyone, except Tony, seemed aware of. 

“I’m trying to hold out for you,” she confessed into the still living room. 

Isabella shifted uncomfortably at the admission before sitting up and pulling her blanket tighter around her shoulders.She looked up at her companion with tear swollen eyes and offered a small smile. 

“You don’t need to,” she whispered.“Sometimes misery loves company.I know how you feel about him.You can be composed and all that stuff in front of the cameras, but we’ve stolen at least two of Tony’s most expensive wines and we’re camping out in _his_ _house_.I think that warrants a few tears, given our relationships.”

And that’s how the two women found themselves in a comforting hug, crying over half finished bottles of wine and pizza crusts. 

The days that followed weren’t much better for either women.Eventually, however, they had to go back to reality. 

Everywhere Isabella went, she was bombarded with questions from the press about Tony and if he was secretly hiding out somewhere. 

Almost always, she swallowed her emotions until she was just out of sight and broke down. 

She’d decided to take the semester off, needing time to calm her emotions during the search and possibly prepare for a funeral. 

It sickened her to think of her closest friend’s smile being smothered in such a simple incident. 

Pepper agreed, and even though Rhodey didn’t say it out loud, they both knew he was holding out hope as well.Even if Obadiah was constantly telling the young heiress that there wasn’t much to hold onto. 

There was just something about Tony Stark that made a person hold hope, no matter the odds.

Because Pepper was in an inconsistent state of employment, Isabella offered to have the redhead employed under Briggs International.Her father had been more than generous about Pepper’s duties, essentially allowing the woman to accompany Isabella and himself wherever she pleased. 

Pepper graciously accepted, working between the two companies as much as she could and helping whoever needed it.She loved being able to work along with Isabella, to whom she’d formed an almost sisterly bond with. 

Obadiah was becoming more and more antagonistic toward the women whenever he encountered them at the Briggs building. 

With Isabella out of school, she lingered closer to her father’s business, much to her brother’s chagrin.She needed to distract herself, and hiding in agenda dockets and finance reports seemed to be the best bet.Math never lied.Math never changed. 

It was a good constant for her. 

Pepper hated being unable to help in the search for Tony, so she helped Isabella with day to day duties and assisted in Mr. Briggs’ grooming of his daughter. 

The older man wouldn’t admit it, but she saw the looks he gave his son whenever Chris interrupted during a meeting.The man wasn’t fond of the boy.Anyone with eyes could see it. 

So, he pushed the majority of the work onto Isabella, and the younger Briggs child dove in enthusiastically. 

“You know, it’s weird,” Isabella stood up from her desk when Pepper approached her to remind the young woman of their lunch date with Rhodey.“I’ve been looking over our parts manifest for the Jericho at Stark and the numbers are all over the place.I know dad authorized it with Obie ages ago, but after the ambush, no one has found _anything_.”

Pepper leaned over the desk and scanned over the receipt Isabella was holding up. 

“That’s… really strange,” she agreed quietly.“What’s the protocol in this sort of event?” 

Briggs International had worked as an exclusive supplier for Stark Industries Weapons division for the last few decades.While Stark envisioned and manufactured the weapons, Briggs supplied the parts- some rarer than others. 

“We send a separate investigational team in and they round up any random parts that may have been left behind,” Isabella explained, turning back to her computer and scrolling through.“There’s not even a detailed report.Look.”

Pepper frowned as she studied the bare report.There were a few lines about random pieces of metal, but nothing more. 

Yet, Pepper had personally seen the pictures from the site.It had been a battle zone. 

Something just wasn’t adding up.

When Isabella mentioned it to her father and Obie during a meeting, the latter had shrugged and mentioned something about locals stealing the valuable metal. 

Her father told Chris to look into it further and the topic was immediately changed.

Still, Isabella decided to see if Pepper could track down any information on Obie’s computer whenever she had the chance. 

It was only a few days later when the women received the news that Tony had been found. 

They both dropped what they’d been working on and jumped on the next flight to Malibu. 

The time it took for Tony to return to the States had been some of the most difficult few hours in Pepper’s life.Isabella wouldn’t stop pacing, much to the annoyance of Pepper. 

Rhodey had insisted that Tony looked relatively healthy, but since they needed to move him to the States as quickly as possible, there hadn’t been any time for a medical exam. 

About an hour before Tony was due to arrive, Obie and Isabella’s father needed her presence at a meeting in downtown LA. 

It took a few minutes for Pepper to calm the brunette down, but after a few more curses, Pepper had the Briggs' driver take Isabella to the meeting with the promise that they’d meet up at the hospital later.

Isabella was astonished to find out from Obie that Tony had called a press conference in lieu of going to the hospital.She should have known that something drastic had happened, but the grief and joy of seeing her best friend had distracted her. 

God, she was so happy to see him again.She’d missed the guy like hell and here he was, standing in front of a crowd of people, getting a _cheeseburger_.She and Pepper exchanged excited smiles, both women’s expressions falling as soon as Tony dropped his bombshell about stopping weapons manufacturing at Stark Industries. 

Isabella had never seen a room full of people shift so quickly in her life.It turned to total chaos with Pepper hurrying to Isabella’s side and urging the young woman to head to the Malibu house and call a doctor. 

Tony was yelling at everyone when Isabella arrived with the Briggs family doctor in tow. 

A few poorly worded insults later and Isabella was profusely apologizing while helping the doctor into Happy’s car.Pepper insisted on spending the night, but one look at the woman and Isabella could tell she needed a break. 

The two women private consulted and Isabella promised to look after Tony, and send updates to Pepper through the night. 

“Get some food in him,” Pepper instructed firmly, pulling Isabella into another hug and kissing the girl’s cheek.“He hasn’t eaten since the burger.”

“Done,” the brunette promised with a salute, closing the door after the assistant and venturing into the kitchen. 

* * *

“ _Tony bologna_ ,” Isabella sang, holding a tray between her hands and attempting to open the lab door open with her hip.She was surprised to find that it remained locked.

“JARVIS?” she questioned in confusion.“What the hell?”

“ _Mr. Stark requests privacy at the moment Izzy_ ,” the AI replied sympathetically. 

“That’s BS and we both know it,” she snorted, shaking her head.“Override code: IZZY00002.”

“ _Understood_ ,” the door popped open, allowing Isabella to guide her way through a pile of metal and mechanics toward Tony in the back.He was focused on a piece of metal he was welding, his face completely covered by the safety helmet. 

There was a soft hum of rock music playing somewhere, but largely the sound was drowned out by the noise Tony made. 

He dropped the welding torch and threw his mask up, adjusting something, when Isabella cleared her throat. 

“Anthony, it’s time for some dinner,” she chided, setting the meal down and crossing the space between them.“You need to eat.”

He made a non-committal grunt, moving to a human shaped metal chest plate near the wall. 

“What are you even doing?” she asked, stepping in front of him and walking in sync with him, her glare fixed on his face.

“ _God_ , I hate it when you do that,” he finally broke, waving his hands in frustration. _“Go away.”_

“Not until you, ya know, talk to me about the super traumatic thing you just went through,” Isabella shot back, her hands on her hips. 

“You’re worse than Pepper,” he grumbled, throwing a wrench over his shoulder in annoyance.

“Then eat at the very least, and I’ll leave you alone,” she reasoned, her tone softening as she got a good look at the dark circles and cuts on his face.“ _Please_.”

He stilled, a small screwdriver in his hand. 

“ _Fine_ ,” he tossed the device aside and dropped down in the seat in front of Isabella’s makeshift meal.“What’d you make me?” 

“An omelette, some fruit, a cup of yogurt and that disgusting green juice you like,” she smiled, passing him a napkin.“And I’m not leaving until it’s gone.”

“You’re a _pest_ ,” Tony dug into the omelette, his body relaxing after the first bite.“When did you learn to cook?” 

“I’ve always known how to cook,” she replied with an eye roll.“Jarvis taught me years ago.”

That earned a surprised grunt from Tony as he continued eating his meal. 

“I know it’s a stupid question,” she began after a few heartbeats of silence between the old friends.“But are you ok?You know…” she pointed to her head and bit her bottom lip, hoping he understood the question. 

“No,” he replied avoiding eye contact.He set down his fork and pulled off the rubber apron he was wearing, revealing a bright light protruding from his chest, glowing under his shirt.“I’m far from ok.”

“Tony,” Isabella breathed, jumping up and studying the object closer.“Jesus.Is that in your heart?You need to see a doctor…” 

When she went to touch it, Tony caught Isabella’s wrist firmly.She froze at the sudden gesture, the uncharacteristic action taking her by shock. 

_“No doctors,”_ he repeated with a note of finality.There was no negotiating with him, Isabella realized. 

She nodded slowly, lowering her hand with his release. 

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, standing up and knocking over his glass of green juice.“Shit.Izzy, I’m-”

Isabella didn’t even care about the mess spilling on the ground.She just leapt forward and pulled Tony into a tight hug, slowly bringing him to the ground where he’d be more stable as his body trembled in the familiar touch of his friend. 

“ _Hey_ ,” she murmured to him, fighting back tears.She wasn’t sure if they were tears of sadness or joy.Even if her friend was back, he’d been broken in ways she couldn’t even see.“It’s gonna be okay… I promise.”

He clutched on tighter at those words. 

“I know,” he nodded, pulling away slightly and staring at her firmly.“I’m going to make everything okay.I’m going to fix everything.”

He went to stand up, but Isabella caught him by the hand and pulled him back down. 

“Tony… You can’t control the world,” she looked him in the eyes and cradled his shaking hand like a fine jewel.“You’re not alone in this anymore.I’m here now and you’re safe.Look around, we’re both safe and you just need to focus on healing.”

“They had _my weapons_ , Izzy,” His voiced broke at the confession.“I don’t know what else to do.This is on me.”

“Then heal yourself and then get your revenge,” she reasoned softly, running a comforting hand through his hair with a small smile.“But a broken man can’t fix anything.You need to get some sleep.”

He fell forward, his forehead resting on the top of her chest while she wrapped her arms around him.They were twin souls.Kindred spirits who could only find true comfort and peace with one another. 

“You’re right,” Tony let out a long sigh.“You’re definitely right.”

“I always am,” she laughed, helping him to stand and pushing aside the mess that had been made.“I’ll deal with this in the morning.”

“Nah,” he snapped his fingers and pointed at the puddle of juice.“DUM-E, get to work.” 

Isabella just laughed, tucking her arm under his and leaning her head on his shoulder as they walked. 

“I missed you so much,” she confessed.“Who was I suppose to boss around?”

“Pepper?” he jokingly suggested, locking the lab behind them. 

“I think she’s smarter than both of us,” Isabella admitted in a low voice.“Watch out for her, I think you’re gonna marry her someday.”

“I agree,” he hummed, listening to Isabella’s deep-rooted theories and allowing a small laugh at a few jokes. 

He was finally home. 


End file.
